Hierarchically porous intestine-like SnO2 hollow nanostructures of different dimension were successfully synthesized via a facile, organic template free, H2O2-assisted method at room temperature. The morphology as well as texture (congregated solid sphere, intestine-like solid nanostructure, hollow core-shell one, and intestine-like hollow one) of SnO2 materials can be controlled by varying H2O2 concentration and the size of intestine-like hollow SnO2 can be tuned in the range of 20-120 nm by changing SnSO4 concentration. The hierarchically porous intestine-like SnO2 has high specific surface area (142 m(2) g(-1)). The gas-sensing behaviors of the intestine-like SnO2 material to different gas probes such as ethanol, H-2, CO, methane, and butane have been investigated; among them a high selectivity to ethanol was achieved. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.