Semiconductor nanowire optoelectronic devices have attracted intense interests, concerning the advantages of nanowire growth, fabrication, architecture, functionality.The device architecture at the feature scales exhibit unique physical behaviors and promise extraordinary functions.The integrated architecture with lateral electrodes propels carriers to transport across nanowires and is crucially beneficial to the injection/extraction in optoelectronics.Moreover, The optical processes in the metal-nanowire cavity constructed with lateral electrodes are enhanced.In this talk, we report mainly on the fabrication and optical properties of ZnO nanowire photodetectors based on lateral electrodes.