ZnO nanorods doped with 1-2 wt% Cr were grown on Si substrates by hydrothermal method. Scanning electron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction show the hexagonal structure of the nanorods with ZnO oriented along (1 0 0), (0 0 2), (1 0 1) and (1 0 2) and CrO2 along (2 1 1). Ionized donor bound exciton, neutral donor bound exciton, free exciton, two-electron-satellite of hydrogen donor bound exciton, and donor acceptor pairs were observed in low temperature photoluminescence spectra. The photoluminescence spectra along with XPS results confirm that Zn, was formed in the low temperature hydrothermal process. Superconducting quantum interference device measurement reveals that the Cr-doped ZnO nanorods are ferromagnetic with saturation magnetization of 2.421 x 10(-3) emu/g. The room temperature ferromagnetic properties are explained by defect-mediated bound magnetic polarons based on Zn-i. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.