ZnO-SnO2 colloidal nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized by using the composite of ZnCl2 and Sn(OC4H9)(4) as inorganic precursor and dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA) as an organic template. The assembled nanostructures of ZnO-SnO2 products have been carefully investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). It is found that ZnO-SnO2 colloidal nanoparticles take a disk-like multiring nanostructure. This interesting structure is predominantly determined by the tenacity for ZnO-SnO2 mixtures to stabilize lamellae. A mechanism based on electrostatic interactions between the precursor and template has been proposed to illustrate the resulting nanoparticle structure. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.