Al-doped ZnO (AZO) thin films were prepared on FTO glass by sol-gel method. The phase, morphology and optical properties of the samples were characterized by XRD, FESEM, UV-vis and PL spectroscopy. The results indicate that all the AZO thin films were hexagonal wurtzite structure, and the peak of which decreases with the increase of doping concentration. The morphology of particles transforms from irregular to regular sphere with a decreasing size. The corresponding PL spectra show that the near ultraviolet emission and defect peak increase firstly and then decrease with the increase of doping concentration. The UV-vis absorption spectrum shows that the optical absorption of the AZO thin films is in a fluctuating state. The band-gap of the samples doped with 3% Al reduces to 3.12eV.