A large quantity of monocrystalline germanium nanorods and their arrays were produced on a porous anodic alumina (PAA) template utilizing saturated vapor adsorption, during which the Ge gas pressure was saturated at a high temperature in an airtight quartz tube. Raman scattering and photoluminescence (PL) results were acquired from the Ge nanorod array and discussed in details. Using Si-based PAA template with 25 nm nanopores, Si-based Ge nanorod array with a large area (larger than 1×1 cm2) was obtained and the quantum confinement effect is demonstrated in Raman spectrum. © 2005 American Institute of Physics.