The solvation structure of the zinc(II) ion in dimethyl sulfoxide has been determined by studying both the EXAFS and XANES regions of the Zn K-edge absorption spectra. The combination of these two techniques has proved to be very powerful for the complete structural determination of the solvated complex in DMSO solution. The comparison between the experimental and theoretical data has demonstrated that the solvation sphere of the zinc(II) cation is formed by six dimethyl sulfoxide molecules arranged in an octahedral fashion with a Zn-O first shell distance of 2.10(3) angstrom and a Zn-O-S angle close to 120 degrees. (c) 2010 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.