Reported in this work is the synthesis of HDA (hexadecylamine)-capped ZnS nanoparticles by a single source route using Zinc(II) N-ethyl-N-phenyldithiocarbamate as a precursor. By varying the growth temperature, the temporal evolution of the optical properties and morphology of the nanocrystals were investigated. The as-synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using UV-vis absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). All the particles exhibited quantum confinement in their optical properties with band edge emission at the early stage of the reaction. The XRD showed transition from hexagonal wurtzite phase to cubic sphalerite phase as the growth temperature increases. The TEM image showed that the particles are small and spherical in shape while the HRTEM image confirmed the crystalline nature of the material. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.