We report on the charge carrier transport mechanisms of undoped and Ga doped (2 wt. % and 4 wt. %) ZnO thin films grown by pulsed dc magnetron sputtering technique. Temperature dependent resistivity measurements showed typical semiconducting behaviour for undoped ZnO thin films where as Ga doped ZnO thin films showed metallic nature at higher temperatures and insulating nature with a metal to insulator transition at lower temperatures. The observed transition temperatures are 91 K and 140 K for 2 wt. % and 4 wt. % Ga doped ZnO films respectively. The observed metal insulator transition is attributed to the electron-electron interactions at low temperatures. The variations in the transition temperatures are explained based on the disorderness induced in the system due to the doping effect. ZnO doped with 4 wt. % Ga showed the lowest resistivity of 5. 7 × 10 -4 Ω cm with a carrier concentration of 1. 2 × 10 21/cm 3. Undoped and doped ZnO thin films are about 90% transparent in the visible region. Blue shift is observed in the absorption edge with the effect of doping and it is explained based on B-M shift. The Fermi level measured from valance band spectroscopy showed a shift of +0. 6 eV for 2 wt. % Ga doped ZnO thin film and +0. 7 eV for 4 wt. % Ga doped ZnO thin film compared to the Fermi edge of undoped ZnO thin films. This ascertains the movement of Fermi level in to the conduction band with the effect of doping. © 2012 The Korean Institute of Metals and Materials and Springer Netherlands.