Abstract We present two new synthetic routes for bismuth ferrite harmonic nanoparticles (BiFeO3 HNPs). Both phase-pure and mixed phase BiFeO3 materials were produced after improvement of the solvent evaporation and sol-gel combustion routes. Metal nitrates with a series of dicarboxylic acids (tartronic, tartaric and mucic) were used to promote crystallization. We found that the longer the carbon backbone with a hydroxyl group attached to each carbon, the lower the annealing temperature. We also demonstrate that nanocrystals more readily formed at a given temperature by adding glycerol but to the detriment of phase purity, whereas addition of NaCl in excess with mucic acid promotes the formation of phase-pure, monocrystalline nanoparticles. This effect was possibly associated with a better dispersion of the primary amorphous precursors and formation of intermediate complexes. The nanoparticles have been characterized by XRD, TEM, ζ-potential, photon correlation spectroscopy, two-photon microscopy and Hyper-Rayleigh Scattering measurements. The improved crystallization leads to BiFeO3 HNPs without defect-induced luminescence and with a very high averaged second harmonic efficiency (220 pm/V), almost triple the efficiency previously reported. This development of simple, scalable synthesis routes which yield phase-pure and, crucially, monocrystalline BiFeO3 HNPs demonstrates a significant advance in engineering the properties of nanocrystals for bio-imaging and diagnostics applications.