To attain high life standards, it is important to develop high-performance non-toxic gas sensors for public safety, environmental pollutant control, industrial processes, etc. Because reports on single element semiconductor-coated semiconducting metal oxides for sensing applications are rare, we synthesized SnO 2 nanowires and coated them with a 5 nm-thick or 10 nm-thick Si layer for H 2 S gas sensing studies. SnO 2 nanowires were successfully synthesized using a highly pure metallic Sn powder at high temperature in a tube furnace by the vapor-liquid-solid method and Si was deposited on the nanowires by the sputtering technique. The desired morphology and composition of the synthesized nanowires were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Moreover, the gas sensing characteristics of pristine and Si-coated SnO 2 nanowires toward H 2 S, CO, H 2 , C 6 H 6 , C 2 H 5 OH and C 6 H 7 gases were investigated. The sensing results revealed a good response to H 2 S at the optimum operational temperature of 100°C. Notably, Si-coated SnO 2 nanowire sensors showed a better response to H 2 S than pristine SnO 2 nanowires. The mechanism of H 2 S sensing is discussed in detail here. This study shows that the Si coating on the SnO 2 nanowire enhances its sensing performance and decreases the sensing temperature required for H 2 S gas detection.