Zinc magnesium oxide [Zn1-xMgxO (0 <= x <= 0.2)] nanofibers were grown by solution growth technique on glass substrate having zinc oxide (ZnO) seeds deposited onto them. The films were dense and characterized by strong reflections from (0 0 2) planes followed by reflections from (2 2 0) planes. Band gap varied between 3.14 and 3.75eV with magnesium content varying between 0.05 and 0.20. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra recorded at 10K for ZnO nanorods were dominated by a strong luminescence peak in the UV region at similar to 3.13eV. With the addition of Mg in the ZnO lattice, a low-intensity PL peak started appearing in the blue region (similar to 2.62-2.65eV). The films were also characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman measurements. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.