Both doped (Cu or Mn) and undoped zinc oxide thin films were deposited on glass substrates by a sol–gel technique. Zinc acetate, copper acetate and manganese nitrate were used as metal sources. A homogeneous and stable solution was prepared by dissolving ZnO acetate (ZnAc) in the solution of 2-propanol and ethanolamine (EA) followed by mixing with the doping solutions. ZnO:(Cu or Mn) thin films were obtained after preheating the spin coated films at 250°C for 1min after each coating. A post-annealing at 550°C was applied to all films for 1h after the deposition of the last layer. XRD analysis revealed that all films consist of single phase ZnO with zincite structure (Card no: 36-1451). While undoped films showed the strongest orientation, c-axis grain orientation was apparent in all films. TGA analysis of the undoped dried gel showed that weight loss continued until ∼400°C. Compared to the undoped film, grain size of the films decreased by Mn doping and increased by Cu doping. All films had a very smooth surface with RMS surface roughness values between 0.23 and 1.15nm and surface roughness increased by doping. Both Mn and Cu doping resulted in a slight decrease in the optical band gap of the films. The largest width of band tail was measured in Mn-doped film.