Mesoporous metal oxides and sulfides were prepared by a simple solvothermal method using inorganic salts as metal sources and diethylene glycol (DEG) as solvent; they are formed by the aggregation of metal compound nanoparticles. The generality of this route to the mesoporous materials was proved by the fabrication of a series of mesoporous materials (TiO2, ZrO2, ZnO, In2O3, ZnS, and In2S3). Due to the different morphologies of nanoparticle subunits, the as-prepared mesoporous materials had different types of mesopores, which could be revealed by the N-2 adsorption-desorption isotherms and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images.