Optically active polyaniline nanorods and hierarchically structured gold microspheres are synthesized using tetrachloroaurate as an efficient oxidant of aniline in the presence of a chiral inducing agent camphorsulfonic acid. The chiral organization of the resultant polyaniline nanorods is strongly affected by the ratio of aniline to AuCl4-, with the highest optical activity being observed for the ratio around 5:2. The particle size and size distributions of the gold microspheres are influenced by the concentration of the oxidant tetrachloroaurate.