A facile biomolecule-assisted hydrothermal route has been demonstrated to grow gamma-MnS multipods at 130 degrees C for 10 h in distilled water when L-cystine was used as both the sulfur source and complexing agent. The products were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM and photoluminescence. The results indicate that the as-synthesized gamma-MnS multipods are composed of single-crystal, hexagonal and prism-like rods with a size of ca. 300-800 nm and a length of 2-4 mu m. The room-temperature photoluminescence spectrum exhibits a peak centered at 419 nm corresponding to the band edge emission when the sample was excited with a wavelength of 358 nm. A possible formation mechanism for the gamma-MnS multipods was also discussed based on the time-dependent experiments. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.