Random orientation carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were grown on silicon nanoporous pillar array (Si-NPA) by thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method with acetylene (C2H2) as carbon precursor and Ni as the catalyst. The synthesized CNFs were mainly composed of amorphous carbon and disordered graphite layers with a core-shell like structure. And, the tangled CNFs and the regular silicon-pillar array formed a nanometer-micron hierarchy structure. The electron field-emission (FE) property of CNFs/Si-NPA was measured and low turn-on field, high-density and stable FE current, high enhancement factor were obtained. The outstanding FE performance of the CNFs/Si-NPA emitters was attributed to the random orientation and defects of CNFs, the undulate surface of the Si-NPA substrate. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.