Various hierarchical architectures of SrMoO4 nanosheets (thickness of 8-9 nm) have been successfully prepared in nonaqueous system by a surfactant-assisted solvothermal method. X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were employed to study the crystal structure and morphologies of the products. Experiments showed that the solvent, surfactant, reaction temperature and reaction time were crucial for the oriented aggregation of the SrMoO4 nanosheets. Morphological control of these parameters resulted in platelet, column, interlaced multilayer and nest of nanosheets. A possible growth mechanism for these hierarchical architectures has also been proposed according to the morphological evolution with the reaction time. The optical properties of the products were also examined by means of photoluminescence and excitation spectroscopy. Photoluminescence studies revealed that these SrMoO4 nanocrystals exhibited a greatly strong blue emission under 325-nm excitation with different intensities but centered at the same position of 474 nm. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.