ZnO tetrapods and Mn doped multipods have been prepared by a rapid thermal oxidation at 1220 °C during 6 min. Moreover, Mn doped ZnO nearly aligned nanostructures forming carpets over sintered pellets have been produced by the same method without the use of catalyst or gas flow. These rods show two different diameters, one of 500 nm and the other one of 300 nm, with lengths of 5 µm. XRD and Raman spectra demonstrate a good crystalline quality of the doped nanostructures. The room temperature photoluminescence shows a quenching of the intrinsic UV emission band on the ZnO tetrapods, due to an increase of material defects.