We report the growth of ZnO nanorods on Si/SiO2 subtrates by the thermal evaporation method at different distances (substrate temperatures) from vapor source to substrates. SEM images showed that morphologies of nanorods were significantly affected by distance from the substrate to vapor source. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) spectra present change of the ratio of zinc to oxygen in ZnO nanostructures as the substrate temperature varied. X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that the prepared ZnO nanorods are preferentially oriented in thec-axis at lower substrate temperature. The shift towards small angle of the XRD pattern peaks is consistent with the presence of the redundant zinc and the lack oxygen in the ZnO lattice. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the ZnO nanorods show beside the near band edge UV emission, a very broad emission ranges from green to near-infrared (NIR). The NIR emission is interpreted as due to the transition of carriers between radiative recombination centers related to Zn interstitials and oxygen interstitials