Abstract: For the antibacterial problem of cotton fabrics, a two-step method of sol-gel-low temperature heat treatment was used to in-situ grow ZnO nanofilms on fabrics. Thermogravimetric analyzers (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray energy spectrometry (XPS) were used to characterize the composition, morphology and structure of thin films. Results show that the ZnO nanofilms loaded on the fabric surface are uniform and continuous with a loading rate of about 6%, resulting in a reduction of the roughness of the fabric surface from 22.80 nm to 6.81 nm. The ZnO films remain continuous after 250 min of oscillation washing, which indicates that the films are well bonded to the fabric. The antibacterial experiments show that the fabric has broad-spectrum antibacterial properties, with antibacterial rates of over 99.99% against E. coli and S. aureus and 96.20% against Candida albicans.