Two-step chemical vapor deposition (CVD) in combination with metal-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) growth mechanism was used as a new approach to synthesize and modify the morphology of SnO
2
-TiO
2
core-shell nanowires. SnO
2
nanowires were grown by decomposition of Sn(O
t
Bu)
4
precursor on Au-coated Al
2
O
3
substrates followed by the growth of a TiO
2
overlayer by the CVD of Ti(O
i
Pr)
4
. Structural characterization of SnO
2-
TiO
2
heterostructures by X-ray diffraction and high-resolution TEM revealed the formation of mixed Sn
x
Ti
1–x
O
2
compositions (x = 0.857-1.0) at the SnO
2
-TiO
2
phase boundaries, where x depended on the annealing temperatures. The observed oriented attachment of TiO
2
nanoclusters on single crystal SnO
2
core was possibly due to low lattice mismatch. The photocatalytic studies suggested an enhanced activity in SnO
2
-TiO
2
heterostructures due to higher surface area and change in the electronic structures caused by Sn
4+
doping in TiO
2
.