Understanding the structure-property relationships of functional materials with changing nanostructures is essential for their practical applications. In this work, the nanorods-decorated electrospun nanofibers underwent a morphology evolution upon simple thermal treatment. The nanorods became short, and finally round with the increasing thermal treating time. As results of the morphology evolution, the SERS properties and the catalytic properties of the changing nanostructures showed different trends. The SERS activity firstly increased and then decreased with the thermal treating time. However, the catalytic property decreased with the thermal treating time. The revealed connections between the practical performance and the morphology evolution might be helpful for the control of functionality of nanomaterials under certain conditions. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.