High-quality single crystal indium nitride nanorods were grown. on Si substrates by catalytic chemical vapor deposition. Both Raman and high resolution transmission electron microscopic analyses suggested that even a minute amount of oxygen, from the residual oxygen in the growth environment and/or native oxide on the Si, would effectively help the growth of InN nanorods. The In2O3 formed on Au nanoparticles helped dissolve nitrogen as a catalyst with the subsequent growth of InN nanorods. Variations in the apparent color and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the InN nanorods were observed. For the optically brown InN nanorods that exhibited diameters in the range of 30-50 nm, the PL study showed a peak at 1.9 eV, the possible origins of which are discussed. In contrast, for the optically black InN nanorods that exhibited diameters in the range of 50-100nm, the PL peak at approximately 0.766eV measured at 20K was attributed to band edge emission. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.