Nowadays, functionalized conducting polymer nanomaterials have been received great attention in nanoscience and nanotechnology because of their large surface area. This article reviews Various methods for synthesis of conducting polymer nanostructures and their applications in sensing materials, focusing on hard-template, soft-template and other methods and the formation mechanism of conducting polymer nanostructures by these methods. Conducting polymer nanostructures, Such as nanotubes, nanowires, and nanoparticles, as sensing platforms for various applications are also summarized. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.