We have investigated liquid crystal (LC) aligning capabilities and electro-optical (EO) characteristics of transparent electrodes as Al-doped ZnO (AZO) substituting indium tin oxide (ITO). The experiment results show that a uniform vertical LC alignment on AZO electrodes based on a rubbed polyimide (PI) surface were achieved. A high pretilt angle of about $88^{circ}$ was obtained. EO performances of the VA cell on rubbed PI surfaces with AZO electrodes are almost the same as that of the VA cell with ITO electrodes. These results appeared that AZO electrodes as transparent electrodes of LCDs could substitute ITO electrodes.