In this paper, we presented a seed-mediated approach for rapid synthesis of high quality alloyed quantum dots (CdSe-CdS) in aqueous phase by microwave irradiation with controllable temperature in 1 h. In the synthesis, CdSe seeds were first formed by the reaction of NaHSe and Cd2+, and then alloyed quantum dots (CdSe-CdS) were rapidly produced by releasing of sulfide ions from 3-mercaptopropionic acid as sulfide source with microwave irradiation. The alloyed quantum dots synthesized had good optical properties, the quantum yield was up to 25%, and the full width at half maximum of the emission spectrum peak was about 28 nm. The as-prepared alloyed CdSe-CdS QDs were characterized by XRD, XPS and ICP-AES in order to explore the structure and component of the alloyed nanocrystals and the reaction mechanism. We speculate that the alloyed CdSe-CdS quantum dots may exist a gradient internal structure according to our preliminary results. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.