Unidirectional growth of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) was achieved using the patterned Co-Mo salt catalyst on the r-plane sapphire substrate. This is in marked contrast with the SWNTs grown on an a-plane sapphire and ST-cut quartz, on which the SWNTs grew bidirectionally. This new growth mode is not dependent on the gas flow and attributed to the asymmetric surface atomic arrangement of the sapphire surface.