Abstract The Sb-doped SnO2 (ATO) nanowires have been synthesized on an alumina substrate using thermal evaporation with various growth durations of 1, 1.5 and 2 h. The morphology and structure of Sb-doped SnO2 nanowires were characterized by a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), an x-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrometer and a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The chemical composition and bonding were investigated by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), which shows that the Sb concentration of the nanowires increases with increasing growth durations. It is found that the electrical conductance of a single ATO nanowire- and nanowire films-based devices both increase with growth durations. Additionally, the photon-sensing measurement shows that the photon-sensing properties are improved with doping Sb into SnO2 nanowires, which provides a practicable method for the fabrication of ATO nanowire-based photodetectors. At room temperature, the Sb-doped SnO2 nanowires exhibit a high sensitivity towards ethanol gas of concentrations ranging from 50 to 500 ppm. Comparative gas sensing results reveal that the prepared Sb-doped SnO2 nanowires sensors exhibit a much higher sensing sensitivity and recovery property in detecting ethanol gas at room temperature than the pure SnO2 nanowires sensor. We also use the atomic layer deposition system to deposit the nano-size Zinc Oxide particles on the Tin Oxide nanowire in order to forming the core-shell structure. Then, the electrical conductance and photon-sensing measurement show that the core-shell structure improves the electrical properties and shorten the photon-sensing recovery time significantly.