As the demand for renewable energy resource is growing rapidly worldwide, a variety of energy materials and technologies are being developed. In this review, we aim to summarize recent developments in the state-of-the-art research on energy harvesting technologies such as thin-film Si or Ge, CdTe, GaAs, organic, hybrid, and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) utilizing one-dimensional (1D) nanomaterials, mainly semiconductor nanowires, nanocones, nanotubes and nanofibers, which are prepared by vapor-liquid-solid method, colloidal lithography, template-guided growth, or electrospinning. Moreover, the future challenges (such as efficiency improvement and natural resource limitations) and prospects of nanostructured solar cells are proposed.