Nanostructures of bismuth (Bi) are obtained by employing solvothermal process. Two different shapes, nanorods and nanospheres, are produced by changing the ratio of solvents (1) ethylene glycol (EG) and (2) EG and absolute ethanol (AE) in the ratio of 1:1, respectively. Prepared samples are characterized by X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Transport properties measured on the pressed pellets of bismuth nanostructures exhibit metallic behavior. The room temperature conductivity varies from 64 to 18 S/cm depending on morphology of the nanostructure. The thermal conductivity is found to be ~50 times lower in nanostructures than that of single crystal bismuth. Thermoelectric performances like power factor and figure of merit are correlated with the porosities of the samples, which show higher value for sphere-like than that of rod-like Bi nanostructures. © 2015, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science.