Patterning ordered nanoparticle arrays is crucial for the fascinating collective properties of nanoparticles. Block copolymer template provides us a platform for the simple and efficient assembly of nanoparticle arrays. In this work, cylinder-forming poly(styrene-block-2-vinylpyridine) thin film was firstly plasma-etched to expose poly( 2-vinylpyridine) cylinders. Then the templates were cross-linked by small molecules so as to access gold nanoparticle arrays with both high density and excellent position selectivity. The cross-linking process significantly restrains the unfavorable surface reconstruction of the thin film. It is demonstrated that the quality of the nanoparticle array was affected by the degree of the cross linking and the immersion time in nanoparticle solution. The highly ordered gold nanoparticle arrays are promising in several fields such as optics and surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.