Lanthanide hydroxide (La(OH)(3), Nd(OH)(3), Sm(OH)(3), Gd(OH)(3), and Dy(OH)(3)) nanorods were successfully synthesized via a convenient hydrothermal synthetic method using triethylamine as both alkaline agent and complexing agent. The influences of reaction temperature and concentration of triethylamine on the formation of lanthanum hydroxide nanorods were investigated in this paper. Lanthanide oxide (La2O3, Nd2O3, Sm2O3, Gd2O3, and Dy2O3) nanorods could be obtained via calcining the corresponding lanthanide hydroxide counterparts. Europium-doped Gd2O3 nanorods were also prepared through similar method. The phase structures, morphologies and optical proper-ties of the as-prepared products were investigated in detail by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and selected area electron diffraction (SAED), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and photoluminescence spectra (PL). (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.