Nanorods and nanotubes as photoactive materials as well as electrodes in photovoltaic cells have been launched a few years ago, and the literature in this field started to appear only recently. The first steps have shown both advantages and disadvantages of their application, and the main expectation associated with their effective charge transport has not been realized completely. This article aims to review both the first and the recent tendencies in the development and application of nanorod and nanotube materials in photovoltaic cells. Two basic techniques of synthesis of crystalline nanorod structures are described, the top-down and bottom-up approaches, respectively. Design and photovoltaic performance of solar cells based on various semiconductor nanorod materials, such as TiO₂, ZnO, CdS, CdSe, CdTe, CuO, Si are presented and compared with respective solar cells based on semiconductor nanoparticles. Specific of synthesis and application of carbon nanotubes in photovoltaic devices is also reviewed.