We demonstrate a simple,compact and low cost Q-switched erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) using single-wall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a saturable absorber for possible applications in metrology,sensing,and medical diagnostics.The EDFL operates at around 1560 nm with repctition rates of 16.1 kHz and 6.4 kHz with saturablc absorbers SA1 and SA2 at a pump power of 120 m W.The absorbers are constructed by optically driven deposition and normal deposition techniques.It is observed that the optical deposition method produces a Q-switched EDFL with a lower threshold of 70 m W and better Q-switching performance compared to that of the normal deposition method.The EDFL also has pulse energy of 90.3nJ and pulse width of 11.6μs at 120mW pump power.