We report a surfactant-free chemical solution route for synthesizing one-dimensional porous SnO2 helical nanotubes templated by helical carbon nanotubes and two-dimensional SnO2 sheets templated by graphite sheets. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, cyclic voltammetry, and galvanostatic discharge-charge analysis are used to characterize the SnO2 samples. The unique nanostructure and morphology make them promising anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Both the SnO2 with the tubular structure and the sheet structure shows small initial irreversible capacity loss of 3.2% and 2.2%, respectively. The SnO2 helical nanotubes show a specific discharge capacity of above 800 mAh g(-1) after 10 charge and discharge cycles, exceeding the theoretical capacity of 781 mAh g(-1) for SnO2. The nanotubes remain a specific discharge capacity of 439 mAh g(-1) after 30 cycles, which is better than that of SnO2 sheets (323 mAh g(-1)). (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.