The tubular tetrapod MgO has been successfully synthesized by simple thermal evaporation of Mg metal power with the pre-growing tetrapod ZnO template. The phase transformation, morphologies, and photoluminescence evolution of the MgO products were carefully investigated with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. These studies indicated that the tetrapod ZnO played a template role in formation of the tubular MgO and determined the dimension and morphology of the final product. Our approach present here is simple and may open a new route to synthesis of other tubular oxides. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.