We report the ordering of carbon nanostructures under energetic ion irradiation at low fluence (<5 x 10(11) ions/cm(2)). Fullerene thin films and multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) films were irradiated with 200 MeV Au and 60 MeV Ni ions at different ion fluences, respectively. The changes in the irradiated films have been investigated by means of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. FTIR and Raman spectroscopy show the improvement of vibration strength in low fluence irradiated fullerene and MWCNT films. X-ray diffraction analysis on low fluence irradiated fullerene films revealed the structural order along the (220) atomic planes. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.