In this study, we have attempted to characterize the photovoltaic effect in real-time measurement of photoinduced current in a poly-Si-based solar cell using photoconductive atomic force microscopy (PC-AFM). However, the high contact resistance that originates from the metal-semiconductor Schottky contact disturbs the current flow and makes it difficult to measure the photoinduced current. To solve this problem, a thin metallic film has been coated on the surface of the device, which successfully decreases the contact resistance. In the PC-AFM analysis, we used a metal-coated conducting cantilever tip as the top electrode of the solar cell and light from a halogen lamp was irradiated on the PC-AFM scanning region. As the light intensity becomes stronger, the current value increases up to $200{mu}A$ at 80 W, as more electrons and hole carriers are generated because of the photovoltaic effect. The ratio of the conducting area at different conditions was calculated, and it showed a behavior similar to that generated by a photoinduced current. On analyzing the PC-AFM measurement results, we have verified the correlation between the light intensity and photoinduced current of the poly-Si-based solar cell in nanometer scale.