We report in this work synthesis of TiO2 nanowires from a TiN thin film overlayed with nickel. The nanowires have been analyzed with EELS, XPS, XRD and HRTEM. It has been shown that the nanowires are single-crystalline and of the rutile structure. The growth mechanism has been studied, allowing to determine in which process conditions synthesis of nanowires occurs and to propose a growth scenario. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.