Novel hierarchically structured ZnO, including rose-like, dandelion-like and flower-like, have been synthesized through a simple hydrothermal process using different amino acids (glutamine, histidine and glycine) as structure-directing agents and urea as deposition agent, followed by subsequent calcination. Amino acids played a crucial role in the formation of hierarchically structured ZnO, and different amino acids could induce different exquisite shapes and assembly ways, as well as more oxygen defects. The prepared hierarchically structured ZnO exhibited excellent photocatalytic activities for the photodegradation of Rhodamine B, which was associated with their special hierarchical structures, large BET surface area and the existence of more oxygen defects. Amino acid-assisted growth mechanism of hierarchically structured ZnO was also discussed. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.