Abstract Liquid–liquid two-phase method was used for fabricating Zirconia (ZrO 2 ) nanoparticles, sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinite (AOT) surfactant and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were added into the solution. It has been shown that CNTs acted as the medium during the drying and burning process, which was very important to the formation of ZrO 2 nanometer-particles. The ZrO 2 nanoparticles prepared by adding CNTs were made up mostly of the cubic phase and secondarily of monoclinic phase. It revealed that the addition of CNTs would be propitious to the transition from monoclinic ZrO 2 to cubic ZrO 2 and to the stabilization of cubic ZrO 2 .