A series of colloidal CdSe quantum dots doped with different concentration of cobalt ions has been prepared via organometallic pyrolysis of a mixture of cadmium stearate and cobalt dithiocarbazate. The conditions required for successful doping depend on the source of cobalt ions and the dopant concentration. The structure and morphology of the prepared nanocrystals have been characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). Slight shift in the interplaner space was observed in the XRD pattern of the doped nanocrystals. Formation of separate cobalt nanoclusters has been observed in the TEM images upon increasing the cobalt concentration more than 2% of the original cadmium concentration. This was confirmed by magnetic measurements of the prepared samples. Room-temperature ferromagnetism has been observed, in which the switching field increases as the cobalt ratio increases. Increasing the cobalt ratio more than 5% increases the coercivity due to formation of Co-0 nanoclusters. Moreover, the presence of localized magnetic ions in semiconductor QDs leads to strong exchange interactions between sp band electrons and the magnetic ions d electrons. This would influence the optical properties such as absorption, emission, as well as nanosecond relaxation dynamics. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.