In this study, the optical and structural properties of carbon dots (CDs) synthesized using a hydrothermal method were investigated. CDs were prepared from various precursors such as citric acid (CA), glucose, and birch bark soot. The SEM and AFM results show that the CDs are disc-shaped nanoparticles with dimensions of ~7 nm × 2 nm for CDs from CA, ~11 nm × 4 nm for CDs from glucose, and ~16 nm × 6 nm for CDs from soot. The TEM images of CDs from CA showed stripes with a distance of 0.34 nm between them. We assumed that the CDs synthesized from CA and glucose consisted of graphene nanoplates located perpendicular to the disc plane. The synthesized CDs contain oxygen (hydroxyl, carboxyl, carbonyl) and nitrogen (amino, nitro) functional groups. CDs have strong absorption in the ultraviolet region in the range of 200–300 nm. All CDs synthesized from different precursors displayed bright luminescence in the blue-green region of the spectrum (420–565 nm). We found that the luminescence of CDs depended on the synthesis time and type of precursors. The results show that the radiative transitions of electrons occur from two levels with energies ~3.0 eV and ~2.6 eV, which are due to the presence of functional groups.