This work reports on the use of two innovative techniques in the field of gas sensors for preparing nano-structured materials: sol-gel and supersonic cluster beam deposition. By means of sol-gel, nano-structured In2O3 thin films have been prepared and deposited under different deposition parameters on silicon wafer. In this way the results have shown a good compatibility of the method with silicon technology, then potentially suitable to be used in the fabrication of integrated devices. The second technique has been applied for the preparation of nano-structured TiO2 thin films showing its capability to be used in the fabrication of gas sensor devices, mainly when a good control of the grain dimension is required. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.