A simple ligand-assisted solvothermal process has been proposed to synthesize CdS nanowires with aspect ratio (average length/average diameter) up to 100. The simultaneous employment of two types of templates, coordinating solvent ethylenediamine (En) and ligand 8-hydroxyquinoline, has been found to be the key factor for the synthesis of one dimensional nanomaterials with high aspect ratio. By adjusting the concentration of the ligand, the produced one-dimensional nanomaterials can be elongated from 300 nm to 3.0 micrometers with unchanged diameter.