Spindle-like hollow nanostructures of zinc sulfide (ZnS) have been successfully synthesized by hydrothermal process using a simple surfactant emulsion template. The morphologies of ZnS nanostructures were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). It is found that most of the products including twin ellipsoids with connected hollow cores are reminiscent of spindle-like structures. The lengths, widths and the thickness of the shell are in the range of 1-2 mu m, 300-450 nm and 20-40 nm, respectively. Selected area electron diffraction (SAED) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) patterns show that the shell is composed of sphalerite ZnS polycrystals. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.