Tungsten trioxide (WO3) nanorods have been prepared by a simple pyrolysis of surfactant encapsulated tungsten oxide clusters. These nanorods are characterized by XRD, Raman, electron microscopic techniques and cyclic voltammetry. Platinum nanoparticles have been supported on these WO3 nanorods. The electrocatalytic activity and stability of platinum loaded WO3 nanorods towards methanol oxidation have been studied and compared with that of platinum supported on bulk WO3 and commercial 20% Pt-Ru/C (J.M.) using electrochemical measurements. The results demonstrated that alteration of the morphology of the WO3 from bulk to ID nanorods have resulted in comparable methanol oxidation activity as that of the commercial 20% Pt-Ru/C catalyst. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.