Bowknot-like CeO 2 microstructures have been successfully synthesized by a CTAB (cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide)-assisted hydrothermal method using Ce(NO 3 ) 3 ·6H 2 O as cerium source and urea as mineralizer. X-ray diffraction (XRD) inferred that the synthesized CeO 2 microstructures exhibited a fluorite cubic structure. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed that the CeO 2 microstructures have a bowknot-like microstructure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and the Raman spectroscopy reflected the existence of the oxygen vacancies and Ce 3+ ions in the bowknot-like CeO 2 microstructures. Magnetization measurements exhibited room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) with a saturation magnetization (M s ) of 3.97×10 −3 emu/g and coercivity (H c ) of 200Oe, which is likely associated with Ce 3+ ions and oxygen vacancies in the bowknot-like CeO 2 samples.