This paper reports the pressure-dependent photoluminescence and Raman spectral investigation of hydrothermally synthesized ZnO nanoflowers at room temperature. Intrinsic near-band-edge UV emission from ZnO nanoflowers is monotonously blue-shifted under pressures up to 13.8 GPa with a pressure coefficient of 26 meV GPa(-1), and this pressure value is nearly 5 GPa above the transition pressure from the wurtzite to the rock salt phase for bulk ZnO. The Raman band corresponds to the wurtzite phase, the [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] modes were observed up to about 11 GPa from the spectra. The apparent discrepancy in the transition pressures as determined from photoluminescence and Raman studies suggests that it is a consequence of the gradual phase transition, in which the smallest nanoparticles are expected to remain in the wurtzite phase up to 13-15 GPa.