Undoped and Barium (Ba) doped ZnO thin films were deposited on glass substrates by successive ion layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method using zinc acetate, barium chloride and ammonium hydroxide solution. In the present work the effect of Barium doping on structural, optical and morphological properties were investigated. Structural characterization by X-ray diffraction reveals that ZnO films are polycrystalline with wurtzite structure. SEM images showed that Ba doping influenced surface morphology and grain size was found to increase with increase in doping level. Optical analysis showed that all the films had good transmittance in the visible region. The presence of defects into ZnO films was detected through photoluminescence studies.