The adsorption of saccharides on dye sensitized, nanocrystalline metal oxide films is shown to improve the efficiency of solid state dye sensitized solar cells. The function of the saccharide treatment is evaluated by transient optical studies, and correlated with device photovoltaic performance. A range of saccharides, including cyclodextrins and their linear analogue amylose, are investigated. The saccharide blocking layer is shown to retard interfacial charge recombination losses, resulting in increased device open circuit voltage. Highest device performance is achieved with linear saccharide amylose, resulting in a 60 % improvement in device efficiency relative to the non-treated control, with a device open circuit voltage of 1 V.