This paper investigates the structural, compositional and magnetic properties of vanadium doped ZnO bulk samples prepared by solid state reaction technique. The Rietveld refinement analysis for XRD results of samples showed small change in lattice parameters for 3 and 5% vanadium doped ZnO samples indicating the substitution of Zn2+ ions by vanadium ions in ZnO lattice. Raman spectroscopy reveals the change in ZnO modes positions due to vanadium doping. The appearance of E-1 and E-2 modes showed that the wurtzite structure of ZnO is still maintained after doping of vanadium oxide. XPS analysis confirms the presence of the different elements and oxidation states of vanadium ions. M-H curves obtained from VSM showed weak ferromagnetism in the samples. The observation of ferromagnetic behavior indicates the formation of ZnVO phase with V2+ ion substitution in the ZnO lattice. XPS scans of the etched bulk samples confirmed the 2+ oxidation state of vanadium ions in our samples explaining the origin of ferromagnetism. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.