Preferred (h00) oriented LaNiO3 (LNO) thin films were prepared on Si (100) silicon wafers using KrF excimer pulsed-laser deposition. Microstructures of the deposited films were investigated using X-ray theta-2theta scan and pole figure or phi scan. The effects of processing the substrate at different temperatures from 400 to 750degreesC as well as oxygen pressure from 50 to 200mTorr were also studied. The LNO thin film deposited at 600degreesC at 50mTorr was found to exhibit the best quality. Deposition at temperatures below 500degreesC resulted in an amorphous LNO while those deposited at temperatures above 600degreesC induced the formation of mixed (110) and (hOO) out-of plane orientation. High O-2 pressure was observed to manifest similar effects. Grain size and surface morphologies of the deposited LNO film examined using atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy showed that the LNO film had been grown with extremely smooth and crack free surface.