Ultrasound assisted wet-chemical method has been carried out to incorporate different metal and nonmetal ions such as; Li, S and Ag into ZnO. Characteristic studies on the structural and optical properties of the samples especially; the ultra-violet (UV) light absorption have been carried out. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows the formation of hexagonal crystal structure of ZnO along with changes in crystallinity and micro-strain with impurity doping. The morphology of the doped samples changes from particle like structure to flower and rod like structures showing the influence of dopant ions on nano ZnO growth. Infra-red (IR) transmittance spectra give information about the presence of metal-oxygen bond along with other stretching and bending modes. UV-visible absorption studies show the narrowing and sharpening of UV absorption band along with a blue shift for the doped samples. This shows the intensification in the excitonic absorption in ZnO after doping specific elements which will find application in UV blocking agents. Photoluminescence (PL) measurement shows the presence of excitonic emission and emissions due to intrinsic defects and external impurities in UV and visible regions respectively. These emission bands show a change in their position and intensity which has been explained on the basis of the existence of impurity levels in the band gap of ZnO. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.