The crystal growth rate and morphology can be modulated by tuning the ratio of the solvent in mixed solvents during synthesis. We present here a solvothermal method to synthesize a Cd–FDC based metal–organic framework with different morphologies by tuning the ratio of water in the DMF–water mixed solvent system without adding any other additives. With the increasing water volume ratio a series of crystals with different morphologies were synthesized. Among these we have isolated two single crystal structures, [Cd₃(FDC)₃(DMF)₄(H₂O)], 1 and [DMA]₂[Cd₃(FDC)₄]·2H₂O, 2. Compound 1 was synthesized from DMF with small amounts of water while 2 was formed from 25 vol% of water in the DMF–water mixed solvent. Compound 1 contains trimer clusters as building units, which are linked by the furan dicarboxylate ligand to form a two-dimensional structure. Compound 2 also contains trimer clusters which are linked to each other to form a one-dimensional chain with the Cd–O–Cd linkage. This one-dimensional chain in turn is connected by the furan dicarboxylate ligand to form a three-dimensional structure. All these structures are characterized by SEM, XRD, TGA and IR. We have measured the band gap energy and measurements show that the values are decreasing from 1 to 2. The lower band gap energy of 2 may be due to the presence of infinite Cd–O–Cd linkages which split the states of the conduction band and reduces the band gap energy.