[en] This paper mainly addresses the effects of the NH4Cl concentration and etching time on the surface texture of <103>-oriented ZnO:Al films deposited by using direct-current pulse-magnetron reactive sputtering. A mechanism for the etching of the ZnO:Al films by NH4Cl is also proposed. The best surface texture was observed the same as it was etched for 15 min by using a 3.0 wt.% NH4Cl solution. The average reflectivity at wavelengths from 300 nm to 800 nm was sharply reduced to 4.607%. The etching with NH4Cl is closely related to the preferential <103> orientation rather than the usual preferential <002> orientation. The increased number of defects around the boundary is responsible for the surface texture and the blueshift of the absorption edge of the films.