A novel fabrication process of metal and semiconductor nanostructure arrays directly onto glass substrates is described below. An aluminum film was sputter-deposited on a glass substrate coated with a tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) film. The film was then anodically oxidized to obtain a porous alumina template with pore diameters ranging from 5 to 120 nm. Through appropriate chemical dissolution, the barrier layer of the anodic alumina film was removed and the underlying ITO film was exposed to the electrolytes, thus making it possible to deposit metals or semiconductors in the pores of anodic alumina films by a direct current (dc) electrodeposition. In Ni electrodeposition, the porous alumina films not only define the dimensions of the Ni nanowires but also influence their crystalline orientation, showing a textured 220 orientation for 0 18 nm nanowires. In addition, through a cathodic electrosynthesis, a peroxocompound of titanium and ruthenium was deposited in the pores of anodic alumina film on ITO/glass substrate. After heating at 873 K for 2 h, a translucent TiO2-RuO2/Al2O3 composite nanostructure on the ITO/glass substrate was finally fabricated. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.