In this work, some structural and optical properties of the zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were studied. The highly crystalline ZnO nanoparticles were produced by the hydrothermal and sol–gel methods. The analyses of the XRD patterns, STEM images and UV spectroscopy showed that the size of the nanoparticles prepared by oxalic acid was smaller than the ones by urea. The properties of oxalic acid and urea were also investigated to determine the most effective crystallization process of ZnO nanoparticles. It has been shown that pH, decomposition temperature and activity coefficient of the complexing agent have certain effects on crystallization process.