A good quality of ZnO coating was successfully fabricated on carbon fiber at ambient temperature and pressure by a modified electrochemical method ("electrochemical" growth), where a carbon fiber was used as both a heating source and substrate, and ethanol solution of zinc acetate dihydrate as an electrolyte. The composition, microstructure and morphology, and photoluminescence property of the as synthesized ZnO coating were characterized by XRD, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectra technologies, respectively. A possible formation mechanism was initially proposed even though more detailed study will be needed. A variety of ZnO coatings with different morphologies can be easily prepared within several tens seconds through this approach, e.g. homogeneous and dense particle shape, mesoporous structure, and Y-shape split ribbon. Our results show that the "electrochemical" growth processes obvious advantages, and it can be expected to extend to the fabrication of other oxide coatings. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.