With a help of Na2EDTA stabilizer, monodisperse and uniform microrods or microplates with an average size of micrometers were obtained. Interestingly, with a little addition of Pr3+ ions,β-NaYF4:Yb,Pr samples present morphology of microrods with a dozen of micrometers in length and several micrometers in width, demonstrating preferential crystal growth along with the c-axis, well consistent with the XRD results.