In the present work, a controlled growth of ZnO nanostructures by manipulating Zn metal ion concentration by the chelating action of ethylene diaminetetra acetic acid in hydrothermal method is studied. EDTA produces metal–chelate complex by the formation of bidentate ligand with Zn 2+ in the solution and diminishes the reactivity of Zn metal cations. Concentration of EDTA in the mother solution was varied in different ranges like 3, 5 and 10mM while retaining the zinc metal salt and the NaOH concentration the same. Three different morphologies of wurtzite structured ZnO nanostructures such as nanorods-bunch, separate/discrete uniformly sized hexagonal nanorods and tapered flower petals like shapes are achieved by 3, 5 and 10mM strengths of EDTA, respectively. The medium concentration 5mM of EDTA is found to have moderate control over producing ZnO nanostructures of uniform diameter and a high aspect (length to diameter) ratio. An array of vertically aligned free standing ZnO nanorods with uniform spacing is successfully achieved by the addition of 5mM of EDTA in the mother solution and the same is studied for its fluorescence property at an excitation of 325nm and it has exhibited a characteristic UV emission of ZnO around 383nm.