ArF excimer laser assisted chemical vapor deposition of tin oxide thin films on Si was obtained using SnCl4 and O-2 as precursors. Experimental measurements revealed that the deposition rate increases with incident laser energy density. The composition, structure and ultraviolet-to-visible spectra of the thin films were investigated by means of XPS, SEM, XRD and a UV-Vis techniques. It was shown that SnO2 and SnOCl2 coexisted in the thin films, and SnOCl2, was almost completely converted into SnO2 after annealing. The SnO2 thin films deposited at room temperature were amorphous in structure and the grain size of the films became larger after annealing. The transmittance of the SnO2 thin films is above 90%, the absorption edge is 355 nm and the energy gap is 3.49 eV.