Lanthanum doped zinc oxide thin films were deposited on soda-lime glass substrates using a pneumatic spray pyrolysis technique. The films were prepared using different lanthanum concentrations at optimum deposition parameters. We studied the variations in structural, morphological and optical properties of the samples due to the change of doping concentration in precursor solutions. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show that pure and La-doped ZnO thin films are highly textured along c-axis perpendicular to the surface of the substrate. Scanning electron micrographs show that surface morphology of ZnO films undergoes a significant change according to lanthanum doping. All films exhibit a transmittance higher than 80% in the visible region. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.