Thin film polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) films have been fabricated by the aluminium-induced layer exchange (ALILE) process on ZnO:Al coated glass. The formation of the poly-Si films was observed during the annealing process using an optical microscope. Poly-Si films formed on ZnO:Al coated glass consist of high-quality poly-Si material, as evidenced by Raman measurement. The average grain size of the poly-Si films slightly increases with decreasing annealing temperature. The formation of poly-Si films on ZnO:Al coated glass led to a preferential (001) orientation at all annealing temperatures (425 °C ~ 525 °C). © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.