Pure ZnO thick film, prepared by screen-printing technique, was almost insensitive to NH 3 . Pure ZnO thick films were surface modified with MnO 2 by dipping them into 0.01 M aqueous solution of manganese chloride (MnCl 2 ) for different intervals of time and fired at 500˚C for 12 h. The grains of MnO 2 would disperse around the grains of ZnO base material. The MnO 2 modified ZnO films dipped for 30 min were observed to be sensitive and highly selective to NH 3 gas at room temperature. An exceptional sensitivity was found to low concentration (50 ppm) of NH 3 gas at room temperature and no cross sensitivity was observed even to high concentrations of other hazardous and polluting gases. The effects of surface microstructure and MnO 2 concentrations on the sensitivity, selectivity, response and recovery of the sensor in the presence of NH 3 and other gases were studied and discussed. The better performance could be attributed to an optimum number of surface misfits in terms of MnO 2 on the ZnO films.