Plasmonics is a rapidly developing field concerning light manipulation at the nanoscale with many potential applications, of which plasmonic circuits are promising for future information technology. Plasmonic waveguides are fundamental elements for constructing plasmonic integrated circuits. Among the proposed different plasmonic waveguides, metallic nanowires have drawn much attention due to the highly confined electromagnetic waves and relatively low propagation loss. Here we review the recent research progress in the waveguiding characteristics of metallic nanowires and nanowirebased nanophotonic devices. Plasmon modes of both cylindrical and pentagonal metallic nanowires with and without substrate are discussed. Typical methods for exciting and detecting the plasmons in metallic nanowires are briefly summarized. Because of the multimode characteristic, the plasmon propagation and emission in the nanowire have many unique properties,benefiting the design of plasmonic devices. A few nanowire-based devices are highlighted, including quarter-wave plate,Fabry–Pe´rot resonator, router and logic gates.