In this study, we report on the optical properties of ZnO -core shell thin films deposited by chemical bath technique. The core -ZnO was first deposited before the shells were deposited upon it. UV -spectrophotometer was used to study the optical parameters. The variation of the transmittance, reflectance, absorbance and refractive index against wavelength has bee n investigated for the deposited films. Our result showed that highest transmittance of about 80% is displayed by ZnO/NiO while ZnO/MnO displayed the lowest value of transmittance. The highest and lowest value of absorbance are 2.5 and 0.2 as displayed by ZnO and ZnO/NiO respectively. These values are within the range suitable for use as window layers in solar cell devices and in other photonic and opto -electronic applications. The study reveals that the shell has profound influence on some of the optical properties of ZnO.