A simple and easily operated technique was developed to fabricate GaN films. GaN films possessing hexagonal wurtzite structure were fabricated on Si(111) substrates with ZnO buffer layers through nitriding Ga2O3 films in the tube quartz furnace. ZnO buffer layers and Ga3O3 films were deposited on Si substrates in turn by using radio frequncy magnetron sputtering system before the nitriding process. The structure and composition of GaN films were studied by X-ray diffraction,selected area electron diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer. The morphologies of GaN films were studied by scanning electron microscopy. The results show that ZnO buffer layer improves the crystalline quality and the surface morphology of the films relative to the films grown directly on silicon substrates. The measurement result of room-temperature photoluminescence spectrum indicates that the photoluminescence peaks locate at 365 nm and 422 nm.