A method of producing compound nanorods and thin films under a controlled growth mode is described. The method involves ablating compound targets using an ultrafast pulsed laser and depositing the ablated materials onto a substrate. When producing compound nanorods, external catalysts such as pre-deposited metal nanoparticles are not involved. Instead, at the beginning of deposition, simply by varying the fluence at the focal spot on the target, a self-formed seed layer can be introduced for nanorods growth. This provides a simple method of producing high purity nanorods and controlling the growth mode. Three growth modes are covered by the present invention, including nanorod growth, thin film growth, and nano-porous film growth.