ZnSe and ZnS:Mn nanocrystals were synthesized via the thermal decomposition of their corresponding organometallic precursors in a hot coordinating solvent (TOP/TOPO) mixture. The organic surface capping agents were substituted with EDTA molecules to impart hydrophilic surface properties to the resulting nanocrystals. The optical properties of the water-dispersible nanocrystals were analyzed by UV-visible and room temperature solution photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The solution PL spectra revealed emission peaks at 390 (ZnSe-EDTA) and 597 (ZnS:Mn-EDTA) nm with PL efficiencies of 4.0 (former) and 2.4% (latter), respectively. Two-photon spectra were obtained by fixing the excitation light source wavelengths at 616 nm (ZnSe-EDTA) and 560 nm (ZnS:Mn-EDTA). The emission peaks appeared at the same positions to that of the PL spectra but with lower peak intensity. In addition, the morphology and sizes of the nanocrystals were estimated from the corresponding HR-TEM images. The measured average particle sizes were 5.4 nm (ZnSe-EDTA) with a standard deviation of 1.2 nm, and 4.7 nm (ZnS:Mn-EDTA) with a standard deviation of 0.8 nm, respectively.