In this work, ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized by simple aqueous chemical route method. The synthesized ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction andscanning electron microscope. The sensitivity of the nanoparticles was studied for different gases like acetone, ammonia andethanol in terms of variation in spectral light intensity. The XRD and SEM analysis confirms the formation of hexagonal wurtzite structure with the grain size of 11.2 nm. The small cladding region of the optical fiber was replaced with the synthesized nanoparticles. The light spectrum was recorded for different gas concentrations. The synthesized nanoparticles showed high sensitivity towards ammonia in low ppm level and acetone in high ppm level. © 2016 Author(s).