Gas sensors based on AgeTeO(2) composite nanorods were fabricated using thermal evaporation and sputtering techniques. The morphology, structure and phase composition of the as-prepared nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. TEM and XRD showed that the nanorods and nanoparticles on them were tetragonal-structured single crystal TeO2 and a mainly amorphous phase, respectively. The multipl-networked bare TeO2 nanorod sensors exhibited a response of similar to 219% at 25 ppm C2H5OH at 300 degrees C, whereas the Ag-functionalized TeO2 nanorod sensors showed a response of similar to 808% under the same conditions. The mechanism by which the sensing properties of the TeO2 nanorods were enhanced by functionalization with Ag is also discussed. Crown Copyright (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.