A facile, efficient and environmentally-friendly protocol has been developed for the green synthesis of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) by aqueous extract of Gundelia tournefortii as a mild, renewable and non-toxic reducing agent. CuO NPs were characteriZed by SEM, TEM, XRD, EDS, FT-IR and UV-vis spectroscopy. More importantly, the green synthesized CuO NPs presented excellent catalytic activity for reduction of 4-nitrophenol and synthesis of N-monosubstituted ureas via hydration of cyanamides with the aid of acetaldoxime as an effective water surrogate in ethanol as a green solvent. The catalyst was easily separated and the recovered catalyst was reused many times without any significant loss of the catalytic activity. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.