A novel ZnO photoanode with high specific surface area and good light scattering ability was fabricated for dyesensitized solar cells（DSSCs）. The photoanode comprised of mesoporous ZnO microspheres which were prepared by a solvothermal process. The structures and morphologies of ZnO microspheres were measured and confirmed by means of x-ray diffraction （ XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （ SEM ）, energy dispersive spectrum （ EDS ）, and multi-point Brunauer- Emmett-Teller（BET） analysis. ZnO microspheres are in sub-micrometer scale and have BET specific surface area of - m^2·g^-1. Furthermore, a - 3μm thick photoanode made from ZnO microspheres resultes in a preliminary short-circuit current density（ Jsc ） of - 4. 5mA · cm^-2 with an open-circuit voltage （Vooc） of -602mV and a conversion efficiency of 1.28% in DSSCs. All these suggest that mesoporous ZnO microspheres can be an alternative and feasible photoanode material for DSSCs. Key words： ZnO; mesoporous microsphere; dye-sensitized solar cells （DSSCs）