The current study aims to evaluate the influence of aluminum ZnO (AZO) alloys and undoped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles on hydration behavior of cement paste composites. The study indicated that the addition of AZO nanoparticles resulted in a decrease in the induction period time compared to the addition of ZnO nanoparticles. The effect can be attributed to the aluminum acceleration shields effect, since AZO nanoparticles contain four and five fold coordinated aluminum sites and each of Al site coordinated to six oxygen atoms, the pastes containing AZO exhibited more hydration.