Abstract: ZnO nanorods were successfully prepared by one step solid state reaction of zinc sulfate and sodium hydroxide in the presence of sodium chloride.The powder X-ray diffraction（XRD） and the transmission electron microscopy（TEM） tests indicate that the product is pure hexagonal phase zinc oxide nanorods with diameter 10nm and length（100-160）nm.The UV absorption properties were tested by the UV spectr ophotometer.The results show that ZnO nanorods have an extremely strong absorption at 200-380 nm wavelength and also a relatively strong absorption in visible region,and a wide blue-green light emission peak at 460-610nm at room temperature,which can be attributed to the recombination of a photogenerated hole with singly ionized oxygen vacancy.