We studied effects of laser ablation on morphology of ZnO nanorods fabricated by low-pressure thermal chemical vapor deposition combined with laser ablation of Mn. In this paper, we studied the effects of laser-ablation time period and energy density of laser beam at an initial stage of growth of ZnO nanorods. Both of laser ablation and chemical vapor deposition are simultaneously started, and only laser ablation is terminated after a certain period of time. After the laser ablation is terminated, chemical vapor deposition is continued. It is concluded from the experimental results that even if laser-ablation time period is only 30 sec and energy density of the laser is only 0.023 Joule/cm 2 /pulse, the laser ablation shows remarkable effects on growth of ZnO nanorods.