A new method was applied to prepare GaN nanorods. In this method, gallium oxide (Ga2O3) gel was firstly formed by a sol–gel processing using gallium ethanol, Ga(OC2H5)3, as a new precursor. GaN nanorods were successfully synthesized after annealing of the Ga2O3 gel at 1000°C for 20min in flowing ammonia. The as-prepared nanorods were confirmed as single crystalline GaN with wurtzite structure by X-ray diffraction (XRD), selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) displayed that the GaN nanorods were straight and smooth, with diameters ranging from 200nm to 1.8μm and lengths typically up to several tens of microns. When excited by 280nm light at room temperature, the GaN nanorods had a strong ultraviolet luminescence peak located at 369nm and a blue luminescence peak located at 462nm, attributed to GaN band-edge emission and the existence of the defects or surface states, respectively.