The development of the process of fabricating well-aligned nanostructures materials is one of the interesting subjects in current material science. This paper describes a new method to fabricate high-density, vertically-aligned nanorods of metal and metal compound by magnetron sputtering on aluminum lattice membrane (ALM). The ALM was formed by chemical etching of the hexagonal arrays of pore layer from the anodic aluminum oxide membrane, resulting in unnumbered hemisphere nanopits with uniform protuberant nanodots on the surface of aluminum. The ALM was employed as a substrate to fabricate well-aligned Ni, Cu, WC nanorod films by magnetron sputtering. Scanning electron microscopy images showed that the sputtered atoms have been absorbed preferentially onto the protuberant nanodots of ALM in the process of magnetron sputtering, and have begun to nucleate and grow into nanorods. The diameter of the nanorods depends on the diameter of hemisphere on the surface of the substrate, while the thickness of thin films can be controlled by deposition time. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.