SiC/ZnO nanocomposites were prepared by radio frequency alternate sputtering followed by annealing in N-2 ambient. Well-crystallized ZnO matrix was obtained after annealed at 750 degrees C according to X-ray diffractometer patterns. Transmission electron microscopy analyses indicated that the SiC thin layer aggregated to form SiC nanoclusters with the average size of 7.2 nm when the annealing temperature was 600 degrees C. When the annealing temperatures increased above 900 degrees C, some of the SiC nanoclusters changed into SiC nanocrystals and surfacial atoms of the SiC nanoparticles were surrounded by a layer of SiOx (x <= 2) according to the Fourier transform infrared spectrums. The SiC/ZnO nanocomposites annealed at 750 degrees C exhibit strong photoluminescence bands ranging from 250 to 600 nm. UV light originates from the near band edge emission of ZnO and the blue emission peaked at around 465 nm (2.7 eV) may be due to the formation of emission centers caused by the defects in Si-O network, while the green-emission peak at around 550 nm (2.3 eV) may be attributed to the deep level recombination luminescence caused by the vacancies of oxygen and zinc.