Au and Ag Noble metals nanowire arrays have been successfully prepared by a photochemical method in porous anodic aluminum oxide template from an aqueous solution of HAuCl4 and AgNO3 in the presence of polymer capping materials PVA at room temperature. The products were characterized by XRD, TEM and SEM. These nanowires have uniform diameters of about 20 nm, which correspond to the pore sizes of the templates used, and lengths are up to tens of micrometers. This approach can be used to fabricate crystalline nanowire arrays of a wide range of other metals and semiconductor materials. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.