Novel ZnO microbowls are successfully synthesized by the thermal evaporating of a mixture of ZnS powder and Zn powder. The morphologies of the as-synthesized products can be adjusted by changing the temperature and the type of substrate. The morphologies, microstructures, and photoluminescence properties are investigated by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, and photoluminescence spectroscopy respectively. The growth mechanism of the as-synthesized ZnO microbowls is proposed based on the experimental results. ZnO microbowls presented here can be used as building blocks to fabricate optical and optoelectronic micro/nano devices. Novel ZnO microbowls are successfully synthesized by the thermal evaporating of a mixture of ZnS powder and Zn powder. The morphologies of the as-synthesized products can be adjusted by changing the temperature and the type of substrate. The morphologies, microstructures, and photoluminescence properties are investigated by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, and photoluminescence spectroscopy respectively. The growth mechanism of the as-synthesized ZnO microbowls is proposed based on the experimental results. ZnO microbowls presented here can be used as building blocks to fabricate optical and optoelectronic micro / nano devices.