Polycrystalline ZnO films were deposited on quartz substrates by reactive sputtering of zinc target. X-ray powder diffraction, pole figure analysis and high resolution measurements along with transmission electron microscopy, Raman and photoluminescence studies were carried out to study the microstructure, crystallinity and optically active defects in the films. All the films deposited in the substrate temperature range from room temperature to 600 degrees C exhibited strong c-axis preferred orientation. The changes in preferred orientation of crystallites with substrate temperature were attributed to its being determined by preferential nucleation at lower temperatures and surface diffusion at higher temperatures. A detailed microstructural analysis showed that with increase in substrate temperature from 300 degrees C to 600 degrees C, a significant reduction in micro-strain to similar to 10(-3) takes place, along with a marginal increase in crystallite size. Raman and photoluminescence studies have shown that the films deposited below 300 degrees C possessed poor crystalline quality. The film deposited at 600 degrees C yielded the most intense and narrow (similar to 102 meV) band edge luminescence at room temperature, though it did not exhibit the strongest c-axis orientation of crystallites. This is attributed to its superior crystalline quality and absence of oxygen-deficiency related defects. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.