We describe the fabrication of radial ZnO/Au/ZnO hybrid nanorods by analogously inserting a Au nanoparticle interlayer in single-crystalline ZnO nanorods through a feasible secondary growth process. The construction features of the ZnO/Au/ZnO hybrid nanorods can be tuned by the extent of the nanoparticle coverage and the growth processes. Investigations on the photoluminescence of the hybrid nanorods have preliminarily indicated that the metal nanoparticles lead to enhanced near-band-edge (NBE) emission and suppressed deep level emission (DLE). Such alternative processes and hybrid nanostructures are potential candidates for application in plasmonics and advanced optical devices.