In this Letter ZnO surface was used to separate the well-aligned MWCNT bundles from solution phase. This procedure is based on the etching effect of ethanol on the side wall of MWCNTs. Under proper treating temperature, MWCNT bundles might form and suspend in acetonitrile due to the ethanol induced appropriate roughening of the ektexine of the MWCNTs. Among such formed MWCNT bundles, well aligned ones of particular size extracted from the solution phase by their entropy driven selective adsorption on nanostructured ZnO surface of proper morphology. High resolution images by scanning electron microscopy validated these processes. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.