For understanding the interaction between light and noble/magnetism multilayer nanowires, Cu/Ni multilayer nanowires are fabricated by a multi-potential step deposition technique in etched ion-track polycarbonate template. The component and the corresponding layer thickness of multilayer nanowire are confirmed by TEM and EDS line-scan analysis. By tailoring the nanowire diameter, the Cu layer thickness and the periodicity of the nanowire, the extinction spectral of nanowire arrays exhibit an extra sensitivity to the change of structural parameters. The resonance wavelength caused by surface plasmon resonance increases obviously with increasing the nanowire diameter, the Cu layer thickness and the periodicity. The observations in our work can be explained by the impurity effect and coupled effect and can also be optimized for developing optical devices based on multilayer nanowires. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.