The pure face-centered-cubic PbTe nanorods have been synthesized by the composite-hydroxide-mediated approach using hydrazine as a reducing agent. The method is based on reaction among reactants in the melts of potassium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide eutectic at 170-220 degrees C and normal atmosphere without using any organic dispersant or surface-capping agent. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to characterize the structure, morphology and composition of the samples. The diameters of nanorods are almost fixed, while the lengths can be tunable under different growth time and temperatures. The growth mechanism of PbTe nanorods is investigated via UV-vis absorption, demonstrating that polymerized tellurium anions and metal(II) amides in the hydrazine hydroxide melts could control the crystallization and growth process of PbTe nanostructures. The band gap of as-synthesized PbTe nanorods has been calculated based on UV-vis-NIR optical diffuse reflectance spectra data. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.