Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructured seed layer was grown by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method on glass substrate. The as-prepared nanostructured seed layer was characterized by Xray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) for its structure and surface morphology. XRD results showed (0 0 2) oriented ZnO seed layer growth. Surface morphology study revealed the cluster of ZnO nanocrystals with hexagonal shape. ZnO nanorods (NRs) have been grown over the as-prepared ZnO nanostructured seed layer using a simple chemical bath deposition (CBD) method by immersing seed layer substrate in a chemical bath. It has been found that the morphology of the nanostructured seed layer is a key influencing factor for the growth of vertical ZnO NRs. In our growth method, we were successful in growing vertical NRs with diameter of about 70-150 nm with perfect hexagonal shape. Photoluminescence (PL) and Raman studies were carried out to analyse the crystal quality of our as-grown ZnO nanorods. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.