The single crystalline gold nanowires with different diameter from 30 to 180 nm were successfully prepared in etched ion-track template assisted with electrochemical deposition method.The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to analysis the electronic states of gold nanowire arrays still embodied in the template.The 4f core level energy of gold nanowire shifts toward higher binding energy when comparing with bulk gold.It was confirmed that the energy shift increased with decreasing nanowires length and diameter.The matrix enhanced final-state effect was used to explain the 4f binding energy shift of different gold nanowires.