Oriented ZnO nanowire (NW) arrays were fabricated via hydrothermal method using TiOx films as the seeding layer. Structural and morphological analysis indicates that the TiOx seeding layer can greatly improve the crystallinity and alignments of ZnO NWs. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of ZnO NWs grown on the 1 nm TiOx seed layer exhibit enhanced UV emission. Improved growth of ZnO NWs on TiOx seed layer may facilitate the fabrication of high performance dye sensitized solar cell devices. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.