In the past decade many charmonium-like states were observed experimentally. Especially those charged charmonium-like Zc states cannot be accommodated within the naive quark model. These charged Zc states are good candidates of either the hidden-charm tetraquark states or molecules composed of a pair of charmed mesons. Recently, the BESIII Collaboration reported the evidence for the decay Zc(3900)±→ηcρ± at S1/2=4.226 GeV, and obtained the ratio RZc(3900)=Zc(3900)±→ηcρ±/Zc(3900)±→J/ψπ±=2.2±0.9. Since the decay properties of the states are sensitive to their inner structures, in this report, we investigate the decays of Zc states into ηcρ and J/ψπ in molecular and tetraquark scenarios. By compared the experimental data, we hope the theoretical results are helpful for us to pin down the inner structures of Zc states.