ZnO nanostructures with flower-, rod-, and flake-like morphologies have been controllably synthesized using Zn(acac)(2)center dot H2O (acac = acetylacetonate) as a single-source precursor through a facile and fast microwave-assisted method. The morphologies of ZnO nanostructures can be systematically adjusted by using various surfactants. The ZnO products are characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and selected area electron diffraction. The results show that all ZnO nanostructures are of single-crystalline nature with hexagonal wurtzite structure. The possible formation mechanism for these ZnO nanostructures is proposed and their photoluminescence properties are also investigated.