Spin coating and Chemical bath deposition method have been used for preparing C-axis oriented ZnO nanorods (NRs). Successive Ionic Layer Adsorption and Reaction method has been used for anchoring the quantum dots (QDs) PbS onto the ZnO nanorods. The structural and optical characteristics of the C-axis oriented ZnO NRs, PbS QDs and PbS QDs sensitized C-axis oriented ZnO NRs films have been studied using X-ray diffraction method and UV absorption studies. From the x-ray diffraction analysis C-axis oriented ZnO NRs are found to exhibit hexagonal structure. The optical absorption peak was found to be around 365 nm for ZnO nanorods and the band gap value has been calculated and is 3.27 eV. PbS quantum dots thin film exhibit good absorption of light in the visible region. The surface morphology of the prepared thin film has been analysed by using FESEM. The image showed the presence of PbS QD in ZnO nanorods. Interplanar spacing value has been calculated from the HRTEM image for the C-axis oriented ZnO nanorods and the value is found to be 0.24 nm corresponding to (101) plane of hexagonal ZnO. ZnO nanorods sensitized using PbS has been used as photo anode and platinum coated glass plate has been used as counter electrode for the fabrication of solar cell. Quantum dot sensitized C-axis oriented ZnO nanorods based solar cell with cell structure FTO/ZnO-PbS/redox electrolyte/platinum has also been fabricated and the cell exhibited an efficiency of 1.35 % with open circuit voltage 0.54 V, fill factor of 0.43 and the short circuit current density 5.81 mA cm^-2.