Silicon dioxide-doped tetragonal MnO2 single crystalline prismatic nanorods have been successfully synthesized through a facile hydrothermal route at a temperature of 250 ° C with a reaction time as quick as 5 h. The synthesized MnO2 prismatic nanorods were characterized by x-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy with selected area electron diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. Experimental results show that single crystalline tetragonal MnO2 nanorods have been successfully synthesized at all doping concentrations and that nanorods with a prismatic surface morphology have been obtained at 20 mass% of SiO2. The diameter of as-prepared MnO2 nanorods increases from 125 to 250 nm on increasing the dopant concentration. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis confirms the presence of valence Si (2p) of SiO2 in the as-prepared MnO2 nanostructures. The intensity of Raman modes clearly increases with increasing doping concentration, indicating an improvement in the structural aspects of the MnO2 nanorods. The magnetic properties of the products have been evaluated using a vibrating sample magnetometer, revealing that the as-prepared MnO2 nanorods exhibit weak ferromagnetic behavior at room temperature. The Néel temperature of the as-obtained products is calculated as 97 K. On the basis of the structural information, a growth mechanism is proposed for the formation of prismatic-like 1D MnO2 nanorods.