Morphology and size control of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) by phospholipids (PLs) has been reported. It was found that gold entities could form nanostructures with different sizes controlled by PLs in an aqueous solution. During the preparation of 1.5 nm gold seeds, AuNPs were obtained from the reduction of gold complex by sodium borohydride and capped by citrate for stabilization. With the different ratios between seed solution and growth solution, which was composed by gold complex and PLs, gold seeds ew into larger nanoparticles step by step until enough large size up to 30 nm. The main discovery of this work is that common biomolecules, such as PLs can be used to control nanoparticle size. This conclusion has been confirmed by transmission electron micrographs, particle size analysis, and UV-vis spectra. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.