Copper germanate (CuGeO3) nanowires are used as the modified materials of glassy carbon electrode to investigate the electrochemical behavior of ascorbic acid. The results show that CuGeO3 nanowire modified glassy carbon electrode exhibits good performance for the electrochemical detection of ascorbic acid in neutral solution. The intensities of two anodic peaks vary linearly with the concentration of ascorbic acid in the range of 0.01-5 mM and the detection limit is 24 mu M and 8.6 mu M, respectively at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3, which makes it possible to sensitive detection of ascorbic acid using the CuGeO3 nanowire modified glassy carbon electrode. The CuGeO3 nanowire modified electrode exhibits good reproducibility and stability. The good analytical performance makes that the CuGeO3 nanowires can be used as the electrode modified materials for a wide range of potential application for detecting ascorbic acid. (C) 2011 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/2.019203jes] All rights reserved.