•Effects of thickness and annealing conditions on ZnO thin film properties have been studied.•Thicker and annealed samples under shock thermal had better quality, better crystallization, and lower grain size.•High transmittance and lower resistivity have been recorded for thicker and annealed samples under shock thermal. This work aims to study the influence of shock/ gradual annealing temperature on the properties of ZnO thin film with different film thickness. ZnO thin films have been prepared on glass substrates using a sol-gel method deposing by dip-coating technique. Zinc acetate dihydrate, monoethanolamine, and 2-methoxyethanol were used as starting materials, stabilizer, and solvent respectively. The X-ray diffraction patterns show that all films have the wurtzite structure and the (002) diffraction peak dominated in all of them. The ZnO films with a higher thickness and annealed under thermal shock, show higher peaks intensity and lower grain size compared to the films annealed by gradually increasing temperature. Scanning electron microscopy images confirmed the results of DRX. The best electrical and optical properties have been obtained for the samples with higher thicknesses and annealed by heat shock. ZnO thin films show a resistance value of 1,296 Ω.cm and a band gap value of 3.245 eV with high transmittance (>90%). Display omitted