Tin dioxide nanowires have been realized via pulsed laser deposition techniques based on a sintered cassiterite SnO2 target, being deposited on Si (100) substrates at room temperature. X-ray diffraction indicated that the nanowires show the tetragonal rutile structure in the form of SnO2. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the nanowires are structurally perfect and uniform, and diameters range from 10 nm to 30 nm, and lengths of several hundreds nanometers to a few micrometers. Selected area electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy verified that the nanowires grow along the [110] growth direction. Electric properties were investigated by connecting a single SnO2 nanowire in field-effect transistor configuration. The SnO2 nanowires based on field-effect transistor devices exhibited that the SnO2 nanowires prepared by our method hold better electrical properties. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.