Synthesizing zinc oxide nanoparticles to get certain specific characteristics to be applied in Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is still challenging to date. In this work, zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized using the sol-gel method by dissolving zinc nitrate hexahydrate in nitric acid. The ZnO crystal and particles' morphology and structure were determined using X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM). In this study, a microwave oven was used for annealing ZnO without insulating a sample in any casket. The results show that 30 and 40 minutes of annealing and stirring for 1 hour influenced the morphology and size of zinc oxide particles in nanoscale. These parameters could be tailored to generate a range of nanoparticle morphology (agglomerated nanoparticles in a corn-like morphology), a crystal size with the mean size of 70.5 and 74.9 nm and a main growth at the peak 101. EOR experiment were conducted by dispersing 0.10 wt% ZnO NPs in distilled water to form a ZnO nanofluid. Then the fluid was injected into the medium in the 3rd stage of the oil recovery to present EOR stage. It was found that ZnO nanofluid has the ability to extract 8% of the original oil in place (OOIP). © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.