Pure and nickel doped zirconium oxide (ZrO 2) samples namely N1, N2, N3, N4 have been synthesized by sol-gel method at different doping concentrations (0, 1, 3 and 5 molar percentage respectively). Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was used to confirm the elemental composition of samples. X-ray diffraction data following Rietveld refinement revealed the stabilization of tetragonal phase with some impurity of monoclinic phase. Unit cell volume and tetragonality (c/a) ratio was found to be in good agreement with standard values. Results showed the increase in unit cell volume with the decrease in crystallite size. UV-visible spectroscopy, revealed the variation in optical band gap with increase in Ni dopant in ZrO 2 nano-crystals due to combined effect of quantum confinement and generation of interstitial sites.