In this work, we present optical characterization of films of two transparent conductive oxides (ITO: indium tin oxide and ZnO: zinc oxide) including absorption coefficient and optical gap energy. We have also investigated the transport properties of ITO and ZnO films through measurements of electrical conductivity and thermoelectric power versus temperature. These measurements enabled us to investigate conduction mechanisms for metal-nonmetal transitions. Undoped ZnO thin films show a metal-semiconductor transition at temperatures beyond 350 K. We have conducted a similar study on ITO films where we demonstrated, for the first time, the existence of a conductivity transition below 400 K, which indicates a high absolute thermoelectric power at temperatures above the transition temperature. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.