Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were grown by the method of thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using methane (CH4) as the carbon source on porous silicon template deposited with a thin layer of nickel as the growth catalyst. Porous silicon substrates with pore sizes of 10~20 nm were prepared and Ni-catalyst of thicknesses 5 nm, 10 nm and 50 nm were then deposited by c-gun evaporation. The size of the pores and thickness of the Ni-catalyst were taken to be the controlling parameters for studying the growth characteristics of the CNTs. Through comparing the surface morphology of the as-grown samples, the role of the porous structure and the thickness of the Ni-catalyst on the formation of CNTs were investigated and analyzed.