In this work, we study the controlled growth of one-dimensional tellurium nanorods using molecular beam epitaxy on Si (1 1 1) substrates, and then as-grown high-density nanorods are fabricated into photodetectors. The morphology, growth mechanism, crystal structures, and photoresponse characteristics of tellurium nanorods are systematically studied in detail. The photodetector based on Te-nanorods shows fast response and decay time and broad-spectral response in a wide wavelength from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared regime. These findings further expend our knowledge about optoelectronic properties of Te nanorods and provide a possibility to the further development of nanorods multifunctional devices.