A detailed study on the emission properties of ZnO nanorods/Ag nanoparticles for various concentrations of Ag has been presented. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra show that the near band edge (NBE) luminescence of ZnO is enhanced 10 times after Ag loading leading to an ultraviolet/visible emission ratio to 12.2 compared to a value of 1.2 for pristine ZnO nanorods. The enhancement in PL intensity is due to surface plasmon resonance coupling of the NBE emission between Ag and ZnO. We further confirm that morphology and/or surface modification do not contribute to this large increase in the band edge emission. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.