In this work, several metal nanowire and nanotube arrays were prepared by electroplating into a high aspect-ratio AAO template. Electroplating process was firstly studied and due to different Au coverage, two growth pathways were observed. When using the unblocked AAO membrane, it is possible to control the electroplating stop at the initial stage and get metal nanotubes with desired wall-thickness. Different metal resources, such as CoPt, Pt, Pd, and Pd contained bimetallic alloy, are considered due to their different application fields. CoPt nanowire arrays with a high anisotropic structure are the candidate for magnetic recording media. Pt and Pd are the traditional catalytic materials, especially used in the fuel cell industry as the catalysts for alcohol oxidation. Among them, Pt nano-arrays performed better than bulk materials both in acid and alkaline electrolytes, while Pd nano-arrays showed excellent catalytic activity and stability for methanol oxidation in alkaline solution. To inhibit the CO poisoning effect, Ru was introduced to Pd nanotube arrays in order to accelerate the OH adsorption and CO oxidation. While Pd is also the typical hydrogen storage and sensing material, by modifying the Pd structure to nanoscale and thus increase the surface ratio, the Pd nano-arrays exhibit a more outstanding performance than bulk materials as a hydrogen sensor.