Transparent thin films of Sn-doped ZnO (ZnO:Sn) were deposited onto silica glass substrates by the sol–gel method. The effect of different Sn doping on the crystallinity, structural, optical and electrical properties of ZnO:Sn thin films were investigated by XRD, SEM, UV-VIS spectrophotometer and four-point probe method respectively. Among all of ZnO:Sn thin films in this paper, Sn-doped with 2 at.% exhibited the best properties, the surface demonstrate an accumulative crystallization and hexagonal structure, with a high-preferential c-axis orientation, namely an average transmittance of 90% and the resistivity of 19.6 Ω·cm.