© 2018 The Author(s). Binary solid-solution alloys generally adopt one of three principal crystal lattices - body-centred cubic (bcc), hexagonal close-packed (hcp) or face-centred cubic (fcc) structures - in which the structure is dominated by constituent elements and compositions. Therefore, it is a significant challenge to selectively control the crystal structure in alloys with a certain composition. Here, we propose an approach for the selective control of the crystal structure in solid-solution alloys by using a chemical reduction method. By precisely tuning the reduction speed of the metal precursors, we selectively control the crystal structure of alloy nanoparticles, and are able to selectively synthesize fcc and hcp AuRu3 alloy nanoparticles at ambient conditions. This approach enables us to design alloy nanomaterials with the desired crystal structures to create innovative chemical and physical properties.