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I think that most people would accept that Charles Dickens is a more "important" author than, say, H. Rider Haggard. That's not to say that Haggard's books are any less enjoyable than Dickens (indeed, many would say that they are a lot more enjoyable!), but Dickens changed the whole concept of the novel - the novel "post-Dickens" was not the same as the novel "pre-Dickens". Dickens invented the idea of a novel with a large number of characters and multiple, interconnecting stories, and he was also a significant social commentator, using his books to highlight (and influence) what he perceived to be the wrong and injustices of society (eg, "Oliver Twist" is a commentary on the newly introduced "poor laws", which forced poor people to go into "workhouses" where families were split up).
Dickens CHANGED society; I don't think anyone would claim that, say, J.K.Rowling has done so. That's why Dickens is "great literature" and Harry Potter is not. That's not to say that Harry Potter isn't very enjoyable.
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