A strong accumulation layer can be produced on the surface of polycrystalline ZnO films when the samples are exposed to ions from an inert gas discharge in Ar or Kr. A combination of surface conductance and surface potential measurements show that an accumulation layer is induced by the adsorption of charges from the inert gas plasma which neutralizes and removes chemisorbed oxygen atoms, and this can increase the conductance by more than 6 orders of magnitude, for 500 nm thick films. Electrical neutrality in the ZnO provides the electrons for the accumulation layer, either from the ohmic contacts or the plasma. This accumulation layer can be further enhanced by illumination with UV light.