A type of metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetector based on PbTe single-crystalline nanowires was prepared. I-V characteristics of the photodetector in the temperature range of 77-300 K were studied. Little dark current was achieved in MSM PbTe nanowire photodetector at low bias voltages due to the formation of back to back Schottky junctions between the PbTe nanowires and Au electrodes. The influences of light intensity, bias voltage, and temperature on the performance of PbTe nanowire photodetector were investigated. It was found that the photocurrent is linear to light intensity. The photosensitivity of the typical photodetector was about 50% and varied only slightly as a function of bias voltage. Moreover, this photodetector displayed a fast respond compared with nanoparticle photodetector due to the one dimensional structure and the high crystallinity of nanowires. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.