Various types of tungsten oxide nanostructures, including nanowires, nanobundles, and three-dimensional nanowire networks, have been synthesized on large-area silicon substrates by simply heating an array of tungsten filaments in a vacuum chamber. The fine structure and components of as-prepared products can been controlled by changing the tungsten filament temperature. This approach is free of catalysts and templates, and provides an economical method for large-scale preparation of various types of tungsten oxide nanostructures for applications.