By utilizing laser ablation, high purity trigonal selenium nanorods with different size have been synthesized from selenium powders. The high purity of the nanorods is attributed to freestanding growth process without catalyst or template. Its morphologies depend on both substrate temperature and reaction time. By controlling the experimental conditions, selenium nanorods with lateral dimensions in different range can be synthesized ranging from 20 nm to several hundred nanometers in width, and up to 10 mum in lengths. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.