Several structural engineering strategies are applied to develop innovative templates based on nanoporous anodic alumina. These templates are subsequently used to develop other nanostructures based on certain materials with multiple applications such as polymers, magnetic metals and semiconductors. These replicated nanostructures could be integrated in various types of nanodevices (e.g. nanoelectrodes for direct deposition of nanoparticles from a gas draught, bulk-heterojunction solar cells, one-dimensional optoelectronic devices, nanofilters and so on). It is expected that the results presented will become a starting point to develop new nanodevices and applications in a wide range of research fields.