Columnar growth morphology of ZnO nanostructures were synthesized by employing simple thermal evaporation of zinc precursor electroplated with nickel and chromium. The X-ray powder diffraction studies carried out for determining crystallographic phases of varied ZnO morphologies. The elemental analysis has been carried out to confirm the presence of Ni and Cr doping. The electron microscopy techniques, SEM and HRTEM, were used to investigate the influence of doping on microstructural properties. The columnar growth of ZnO structures observed in undoped ZnO, whereas, Ni doped ZnO reveals the spherical nanoparticles decorated on columnar growth of ZnO nanostructures and Cr doping leads to rod like structures with spherical and cubical nanoscale objects. HRTEM micrograph reveals the growth along different planes of ZnO crystal structure. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements reveal the alteration in defect related emission with doping. Time resolved PL elucidates the decay time parameters and its dependence on microstructural modification in ZnO. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.