We report on a strong violet luminescence emitted from the ZnO:Al films grown on glass substrate by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The growth of high-quality thin films and their optical properties are controlled by adjusting the mixture ratio of Ar and $O_2$, which is used as the sputtering gas. The crystallinity of the films is improved as the oxygen flow ratio is decreased, as evidenced in both x-ray diffractometer and atomic force microscope measurements. As for the violet luminescence measured by photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, the peak energy and intensity of the PL signal are decreased with increasing the oxygen flow ratio. The peak energy of the violet PL spectrum for the thin film with an oxygen flow ratio of 50 % is almost constant, regardless of the increase of laser Power and temperature. These results indicate that the violet PL signal is probably due to defects related to interstitial Zn atoms.