A novel sal-hydrothermal route to prepare lead zirconate titanate (PZT) fine particles is presented, which combined the conventional sol-gel process and the hydrothermal method. The effects of experimental parameters including sol/(sol + water) ratio, reaction temperature and reaction time on the product powders were investigated. The prepared PZT powders were characterized by XRD, SEM/EDS, and Raman techniques. The results indicated that the optimal synthesis conditions were sol/(sol + water) = 20%, 200 degrees C, 8 h. The obtained powders with an average particle size of 700 nm, were phase pure perovskite PZT with cubic-shaped morphology, and the reaction temperature was as low as 150 degrees C, which was comparatively lower than that synthesized by the normal sol-gel route. It was supposed that the sol precursor and hydrothermal environment played important roles in the formation of the PZT fine powders at low temperature and low mineralizer concentration. (C) 2012 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.