Nanostructures of ZnO, such as nanowires, nanorods, nanorings, and nanobelts have been actively studied andapplied in electronic or optical devices owing to the increased surface to volume ratio and quantum confinement that theyprovide. ZnO seed layer (about 40nm thick) was deposited on Si(100) substrate by RF magnetron sputtering with power of60 W for 5 min. ZnO nanorods were grown on ZnO seed layer/Si(100) substrate at 95oC for 5 hr by hydrothermal methodwith concentrations of Zn(NO3)2·6H2O [ZNH] and (CH2)6N4 [HMT] precursors ranging from 0.02M to 0.1M. We observed themicrostructure, crystal structure, and photoluminescence of the nanorods. The ZnO nanorods grew with hexahedron shape tothe c-axis at (002), and increased their diameter and length with the increase of precursor concentration. In 0.06 M and 0.08M precursors, the mean aspect ratio values of ZnO nanorods were 6.8 and 6.5; also, ZnO nanorods had good crystal quality.Near band edge emission (NBE) and a deep level emission (DLE) were observed in all ZnO nanorod samples. The highestpeak of NBE and the lower DLE appeared in 0.06 M precursor; however, the highest peak of DLE and the lower peak ofNBE appeared in the 0.02 M precursor. It is possible to explain these phenomena as results of the better crystal quality andhomogeneous shape of the nanorods in the precursor solution of 0.06 M, and as resulting from the bed crystal quality and theformation of Zn vacancies in the nanorods due to the lack of Zn++ in the 0.02 M precursor.