We report the controlled growth of highly ordered and well aligned one-dimensional tellurium nanostructure arrays via a one-step catalyst-free physical vapor deposition method. The density, size and fine structures of tellurium nanowires are systematically studied and optimized. Field emission measurement was performed to display notable dependence on nanostructure morphologies. The ordered nanowire array based field emitter has a turn-on field as low as 3.27 V μm(-1) and a higher field enhancement factor of 3270. Our finding offers the possibility of controlling the growth of tellurium nanowire arrays and opens up new means for their potential applications in electronic devices and displays.