Undoped and Li doped ZnO thin films were deposited on a glass substrate using the sol-gel dip coating method. The films were prepared at 5 mol.% and 10 mol.% of Li doped ZnO at 550 degrees C annealing temperature and the deposited films were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), microscopic studies, Gouy's method, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and UV-visible spectroscopy. All the deposited thin films had a hexagonal wurtzite structure with polycrystalline grains at random. Primarily magnetic properties of pure and Li doped ZnO films were observed by Guoy's method which depicted Dia and Para magnetic behavior at room temperature. VSM measurement reveals a coercivity of 97.7 Oe in the films. An inverse relative ferromagnetism was perceived in Li doped ZnO films which had an average transmission of <90%. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.