SnO 2 powder particles have been studied intensively as one of the best gas sensing materials because they exhibit very good sensitivity, selectivity and reproducibility due to their nano-grained microstructure, larger specific area and the presence of oxygen vacancies in the lattice. With the aim to produce nanocrystalline oxide powders through a simple and inexpensive route, the sol-gel combustion process has been selected to prepare SnO 2 powder in the present study. The prepared powders were characterized for their structural, morphological, electrical and gas sensor properties for ethanol. Crystal density, lattice volume and microstrain are found to be nearly constant with annealing temperature, which confirm the formation of monophase SnO 2 . Spherical particles in the nanoscale level, with the size increasing with temperature are observed from XRD result. Sensor studies show high resistance of SnO 2 pellets, which can be changed under different gaseous atmospheres and becoming a good candidate for gas sensing application.