In this paper, the authors have reported the structural and photoluminescence (PL) studies of pure and nickel (Ni) doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles synthesized by the solution combustion method. The structural, morphological and optical studies are carried out by powder x-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and PL spectra, respectively. The XRD pattern indicates that the prepared particles are in hexagonal wurtzite structure with the average crystalline size is around 35-50nm. Room temperature PL shows the near band edge related emission and the results are related several intrinsic defects in the ZnO nanoparticles.