This work reports on a reproducible and simple approach to the synthesis of nanocomposites based on gold metal nanoparticles (AuNPs) and layered compounds. Layered zinc hydroxide (ZHL-layered), a layered inorganic material, was used as host for the deposition of the gold nanoparticles. It was demonstrated that gold nanoparticles were rapidly formed when ZHL-layered was added to the ethanol chloroauric acid solution at room temperature. In this system, the ethyl alcohol acted as a solvent of the gold precursor and as a reducing agent, where the Au (III) ions were mainly reduced via redox reaction between the metallic precursor and the solvent. Measurements from gas chromatography/mass spectrometry showed that the AuNPs are produced with the formation of acetaldehyde. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) indicated that the AuNPs were adsorbed on the surface of the ZHL-layered support. The structural, morphologic and optical properties of the nanocomposites based on AuNPs and ZHL-layered (Au-ZHL) were also investigated. According to UV-vis spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the resulting nanoparticles were homogeneous, spherically shaped and highly stable with no aggregation dispersed in the ZHL-layered. This simple method indicates that Au (III) ions can be easily reduced, without the use of external reducing agents, in the presence of ZHL-layered and ethyl alcohol. Finally, we also demonstrated that Au-ZHL nanocomposites can be employed as templates for the preparation of zinc oxide decorated with AuNPs (hereafter named as Au-ZnO) using phase transformation at lower temperatures. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.