The study of optical and thermally stimulated electrical properties such as optical band gap, refractive index, X-ray spectra, SEM spectra, thermally stimulated discharge current (TSDC), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) have been undertaken in ZnO nanoparicle filled polystyrene nanocomposite thin film of 30 mu m thickness. The appearance of single TSDC peak at temperature 408 +/- 5 K in nanocomposite samples shows the charge carriers injected from deeper trapping levels. It is due to the modification of surface and bulk properties of polystyrene by filling of ZnO nanoparticles. In other hand, the strong interaction of nanoparticles with polymer matrix is the expected reason of improvement of crystallite size, optical energy band gap, refractive index, TSDC, glass transition temperature, and charge storage. It is confirmed from SEM images that the modifications of these properties are caused by creation of clusters in amorphous crystalline boundaries of pristine polystyrene. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 118: 2833-2840, 2010