In the present study, the effect of Fe substitution in nanocrystalline Zn-1 xFexO (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.05 and 0.07) particles synthesized through solution combustion are reported. The detailed structural and microstructural studies of as-synthesized samples were carried out through X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Further, the optical and magnetic properties were investigated respectively through Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy and Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID). The XRD results as well as the Rietveld refinement on XRD data reveals the single phase, polycrystalline nature of the prepared materials and no impurities such as ZnFe2O4, Fe2O3, Fe3O4 were seen, which confirms the substitution of Fe at Zn site. SEM and TEM studies reveal that, the samples are porous and agglomerated due to the evolution of large amount of gases during the combustion and also as-formed particles are found to be in nano-range with an particle size varies from 20-25 nm. Optical studies show that, the absorption edge shifts to lower energy/higher wavelength. Room temperature magnetic (SQUID) studies shows that the undoped ZnO exhibit diamagnetic property where as Fe doped ZnO exhibit intrinsic room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) with increasing coercivity with Fe concentration and is attributed to the incorporation of Fe into ZnO host matrix. (C) 2017 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.