ZnAl2O4 is a spinel oxide, widely used as high-temperature material, catalyst, catalyst support, optical coating for spacecrafts and emerging as one of the best wide band gap compound semiconductor (E-g = 3.8eV) for UV optoelectronic applications. In this work, spinel oxide is synthesized by the simple, in situ, acid-based chemical reaction and the thin film was deposited as a product of reaction by liquid-phase deposition (LPD). Material to be grown as metal incorporated thin film was taken as precursor and put into a bath containing acid, catalyst. The acid also serves as solvent with a metal foil as cation scavenger. Uniform and highly adherent ZnAl2O4 thin films were prepared. Structural, compositional and Surface morphological properties of thin films were studied using Philips, Xpert-MPD: X-ray diffractometer and Philips, ESEM-TMP+EDAX, Hitachi S-450: SEM, Nanoscope-III: AFM. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.