Fe-doped and Cu, Fe co-doped ZnO diluted magnetic semiconductors powders were synthesized by sol-gel method. The x-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that Zn0.97-xFe0.03CuxO (x <= 0.02) samples were single phase with the ZnO-like wurtzite structure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that Fe2+ and Fe3+ existed in Zn0.97Fe0.03O, while Fe2+, Fe3+ and Cu+, Cu2+ were found in Zr0.95Fe0.03Cu0.02O. Both Zn0.97Fe0.03O and Zn0.95Fe0.03Cd0.02O exhibited ferromagnetic performance at room temperature. But the Cu incorporation reduced the saturation magnetization of Fe-doped ZnO diluted magnetic semiconductors. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.