In this article, ZnO nanoribbons were prepared by multi-components precursor self-assembled method, and the characteristic of photoelectric gas sensing of the nanoribbons was investigated on exposure of oxygen and water environments by surface photocurrent technique. The results showed that surface photocurrent intensity (SPI) was enhanced after oxygen and water adsorption. This increase of SPI was attributed mostly to the improvement of carriers-generating efficiency. And the mechanism was discussed in detail. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.