YVO4 nanorods/microtubes have been synthesized by a hydrothermal reaction of (NH4)(0.5)V2O5 nanowires templates with Y3+ at pH = 5-6. The nanorods have a diameter of 140-250 nm and a length tip to 50 mu m, whereas the microtubes have outer diameters in the range of 1.2-1.6 mu m and wall thickness of similar to 0.5 mu m. They are composed of self-assembled nanoparticles, which suggests a self-convertible template route to the one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures. The method probably becomes a general approach to preparing ID nanostructures of rare-earth orthovanadates. The photoluminescence spectrum of the YVO4:Eu nanorods/ microtubes shows the four strong luminescence peaks at 594. 619, 645 and 698 tun under the excitation of 3161nm. Published by Elsevier B.V.