Aligned Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanorods were deposited by hybrid wet chemical route onto glass substrates with pre-deposited ZnO seeds produced by sputtering a ZnO target in argon plasma. X-ray diffraction trace indicated very strong peak for reflections from (002) planes of ZnO. Photoluminescence spectra for the films were dominated by a strong luminescence peak in the yellow-green region (similar to 654 nm) at room temperature. The peak intensity slightly diminished when recorded at 8 K but the peak positions remain invariant. The Raman spectra were dominated by the presence of a strong peak located at similar to 437 cm(-1) arising due to E-2 mode of ZnO followed by peaks at similar to 331 cm(-1) for second order Raman vibration and 379 cm(-1) for A 1 mode of ZnO. Fourier transformed infrared studies indicated the presence of a distinct characteristic absorption peaks at 500 cm-1 for ZnO stretching modes. Field emission properties of these films and their dependence on the deposition parameters are reported here. Work function (phi) values obtained from the Fowler-Nordheim model varied between 5.2 and 5.3 eV while the field factor(beta) varied between 305 and 610. The critical field was found to vary between 12 and 24 V/mu m. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.