A Mn‐ZnO nanowire microsphere was prepared by using the hydrothermal method. The effects of Mn doping concentration and hydrothermal growth conditions on the crystal structures, morphologies, magnetic and optical properties of ZnO nanowire microsphere were studied. The characterization results showed Mn‐ZnO nanowire microsphere with uniform and dense distribu-tions along the [0001] direction with a hexagonal wurtzite structure. No impurity phases were detected in microsphere specimens. The room‐temperature ferromagnetism of the Mn‐ZnO nanowire microsphere was detected, with the saturation magnetization of 2.4 × 10⁻¹ emu/g and a coercive field of 369 Oe. Furthermore, with the increase of Mn²⁺ ions doping concentration, the luminescence intensity of the sample decreases in both UV and visible regions, and slight blueshift in the visible light regions was observed. The theoretical results presented obvious spin polarization near the Fermi level, with strong Mn 3d and O 2p hybridization effects. The magnetic moments were mainly generated by Mn 3d and partial contribution of O 2p orbital electrons. Therefore, the Mn‐ZnO nanowire microsphere can be used as a potential magneto‐optical material.