Dandelion-like hydroxyapatite (HA) microspheres were successfully prepared using Ca(NO3)(2)center dot 4H(2)O and (NH4)(3)PO4 center dot 3H(2)O as raw materials and N-Lauroyl sarcosine sodium salt (Sar-Na) as template via a hydrothermal route. The chemical composition, structure, morphology and thermal properties of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscope (FTIR), Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Thermal gravimetric analysis (TG), respectively. The results demonstrate that, Sar-Na has great impact on the morphology of HA. With increasing the amount of Sar-Na, the morphology of HA varies from nanograins to nanorods, finally grows into dandelion-like microstructure. The obtained dandelion-like HA microspheres about 6 mu m in diameter are composed of radially oriented nanorods. Furthermore, the possible formation mechanism of morphology change is also discussed. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.