A solar cell element includes: a transparent body; a LixAg1-x layer (0.001≦x≦0.05) having a thickness (2-15 nm); a ZnO layer having an arithmetical mean roughness (20-760 nm); a transparent conductive layer; and a photoelectric conversion layer including n-type and p-type layers, further includes n-side and p-side electrodes, the ZnO layer is composed of ZnO columnar crystal grains grown on the LixAg1-x layer; each ZnO grain has a longitudinal direction along a normal line of the body, and has a width increasing from the LixAg1-x layer toward the transparent conductive layer, and has a width which appears by cutting each ZnO grain along the normal line, and has a R2/R1 ratio (1.1-1.6); where R1 represents the width of one end of the ZnO grain, the one end being in contact with the surface of the LixAg1-x layer; and R2 represents the width of the other end of the ZnO grain.