Luminescent ZnO quantum dots (QDs) have been prepared, and the fluorescence intensity of the QDs can be increased greatly with the introduction of carbon nanodots, while the fluorescence lifetime of the QDs decreases significantly. The fluorescence enhancement and lifetime decrement can be attributed to the surface plasmon effect of the carbon nanodots, and the calculated surface plasmon resonance frequency of the nanodots matches well with the fluorescence spectrum of the ZnO QDs.