We report here a one step synthesis route for highly stable colloidal dispersion of nickel (Ni) nanostructures in ethylene glycol (EG). tannic acid (TA), a naturally occurring molecule was used as reducing as well as capping agent. Different instrumental techniques were used to characterize the end product. It has been found that the particles are pure crystalline nickel with a face-centred-cubic (fcc) structure which are uniformly distributed throughout the surface of Ni-TA complex hybrid nanostructures resulting flower-like morphology. The synthesized nanoparticles are remarkably stable for several months. It is supposed that the TA-capped Ni nanoparticles with significantly increased stability and dispersibility could be used as a novel nanoscale material in various technological applications. (C) 2011 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.