Carbon-coated ZnO and CaO powders were prepared by Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) pyrolysis at 700 degrees C in inert atmosphere and characterized for their potential utilization in the field of antibacterial ceramics. No peaks corresponding to carbon were detected after XRD measurements of as-coated powders; that is, carbon coating is amorphous. Certain increase in specific surface area was observed after coating in all powders. Based on additional characterizations supported by SEM observations and particle size distributions, it is concluded that the formation of nanoporous structure of coated carbon layer resulted in an increase in the surface area. Some agglomeration also observed after treating powders that decreased with increasing polymerization degree of PVA used as a carbon precursor.