BACKGROUND: One-dimensional (1D) nanostructures such as wires, tubes and belts have attracted much attention in recent years because of their fascinating properties and promising applications, and various methods have been developed to prepare 1D nanostructures. Microwave and ultrasound, two methodologies for rapid synthesis, have both been applied to fabricate nanostructures. This paper reports on combining microwave and ultrasound irradiation as a new strategy for rapid synthesis of nanowires. Using Pb(OH)Br as a study case, nanowires were rapidly synthesized under the combined irradiation. The use of the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide as a structure-directing agent and microwave absorbent significantly simplified the preparation procedure. RESULTS: Combined microwave-ultrasound irradiation at (50 W-50 W) greatly reduced the reaction time (10 min) and significantly increased the product yield (45.0%) in comparison with conventional heating (24 h reaction time, 23.0% yield). Combined microwave-ultrasound irradiation at (50 W-50 W) also changed the resultant wires from 20-30 mu m diameter and 2-3 mm long to 80-800 nm and 50-100 mu m, respectively. Further increase in power of the combined irradiation (250 W-50 W) led to a dramatic reduction in the reaction time (80 s) with a slightly increased yield of 48.2%. CONCLUSIONS: The obvious advantages of combined microwave-ultrasound irradiation are marked improvement of the product yield, significant enhancement of reaction rate and increased aspect ratio of the 1D structure. (C) 2009 Society of Chemical Industry