The ZnO whiskers were successfully fabricated by a simple thermal oxidation method. The morphologies of the samples were examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The average length of the whiskers is about 0.7 mum with a diameter of about 100 nm. Intense ultraviolet photoluminescence was observed at room temperature. By studying the PL properties of ZnO whiskers at low temperature, a competitive process between the recombination of delocalized excitons and localized exciton emission is observed. The probable mechanism is discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.