A new organometallic preparation method is described for CdTe nanowires with a high aspect ratio and a predominantly metastable wurtzite phase. The optical and morphological properties of the resulting nanowires were studied, as well as the influence of elevated temperatures on the crystallographic properties. A phase transition from wurtzite to sphalerite was observed at about 500 degrees C. The results show that the wurtzite phase is stabilized by the synthetic method and the surfactants.