We report on the fabrication of ZnO and Zn 0.9 Mg 0.1 O microrods using nanoparticle assisted pulsed laser deposition (NAPLD). Micro-photoluminescence studies reveal that Zn 0.9 Mg 0.1 O microrods exhibited a blue shift in the ultraviolet (UV) emission relative to unintentionally doped ZnO that was attributed to the increase in bandgap due to Mg doping. High-resolution micro-photoluminescence clearly indicated the presence of whispering gallery modes (WGMs) for both ZnO and Zn 0.9 Mg 0.1 O. Transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) optical WGMs were identified using the existing plane-wave model. The observation of lower order WGM modes in Zn 0.9 Mg 0.1 O microrods may be of great interest for future UV WGM lasing. © 2019