ZnO nanorods (NRs) were grown by chemical bath deposition on sputtered GaN over Si with and without sputtered ZnO seed layers. The effect of ZnO seed layer thickness, precursor concentration and growth temperature on the morphology and photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO-NRs has been studied. Scanning electron microscopy studies at different stages of growth have shown that the thickness of ZnO seed layer is critically important for controlling the growth behavior, morphology and density of ZnO-NRs on GaN surface. ZnO-NRs on bare GaN/Si grow with a large diameter and small aspect ratio of 4, displaying the tendency of lateral growth. Introduction of a thin ZnO seed layer (10 nm) under optimized precursor concentration and temperature drastically increases the aspect ratio to similar to 16, due to partial coverage of ZnO on GaN surface and a moderate density of nucleation with small critical size. ZnO seed layers of higher thickness (50 nm and 100 nm) result in reduced aspect ratio due to increase in nucleation density and limited availability of reacting species. Increase in precursor concentration results in pronounced lateral growth and the decrease in growth temperature also results in compact nanorods with reduced aspect ratios. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) studies show that ZnO-NRs on GaN, grown with or without ZnO seed layer under optimized precursor concentration and temperature, display high near-band-edge luminescence and negligible defect emission, compared to the nanorods on a ZnO seed layer over Si, as well as those grown at higher precursor concentration and lower temperatures. The enhanced PL is attributed to the absence of crystalline defects at nanorod interfaces due to lateral coalescence, arising from the moderate density and slight misalignment of the nanorods. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.