The irradiation effect of high energy silver ion (Ag8+) has been investigated on ZnO thin films to understand their impact on structural, microstructural, optical, electronic and magnetic properties. The RF sputtered pristine ZnO/Si thin films are polycrystalline and highly textured along (0 0 2) plane. The irradiated ZnO/Si samples showed enhanced structural and microstructural defects with irradiation time. The lattice parameters have reduced for irradiated ZnO thin films, suggesting structural deformation. The irradiation has resulted into enhanced defect density and strain in these thin films. A weak room temperature ferromagnetic moment (3.24 × 10−4 emu cm−2) has been observed, which has reduced drastically for Ag8+ irradiated samples up to 1.05 × 10−4 emu cm−2. The observed reduction in saturation magnetization has been attributed to the enhanced microstructural defects, lowering the free charge carriers and increasing the recombination centers simultaneously. © 2020