The effect of α-substitute groups at the asymmetric carbon of chiral monocarboxylic acid ligand, on the chirality of CdSe nanocrystals (NCs) was studied. When the substitution groups have strong electron-withdrawing capability, the CdSe NCs displayed an enhanced chirality where the g-factors were comparable to those with dicarboxylic chiral ligands. In addition, adding ethanol was demonstrated as an effective way to stabilize NCs, however, completely opposite g-factor evolution behavior was found for NCs with different α-substituted ligands. Specifically, the g-factor has increased/decreased with strong/weak electron-withdrawing α-substitute groups probably due to the different intermolecular hydrogen bonding between carboxylic acids and ethanol.