One striking advantage of this method is that ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowire can be obtained by using a variety of phosphate sodium salts including Na2HPO4 12H2O, NaH2PO4 2H2O, Na3PO4 12H2O, Na5P3O10 and Na4P2O7 10H2O as the phosphorus source, indicating wide applicability and promising applications of this novel method. The products are characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.