A facile and efficient solvent-free, template oriented route has been applied for the synthesis of UiO-66 and UiO-66 analogue metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). The crystal growth was observed via time dependent powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and the obtained product was fully characterized by PXRD and ATR-IR. Different substances were screened as possible templates and the water content was found to be of vital importance for morphology control.