Metal oxide nanowires are promising building blocks for thin film transistors due to their one-dimensional geometry in nanoscale, high crystalline nature, and excellent optical and electrical properties. In the past decade, intensive research interest has been drawn to metal oxide nanowire transistors, and various metal oxide nanowires like ZnO, In₂O₃, and SnO₂ have been fabricated into thin film transistors to study their electrical properties and the characteristics as transistor active channels. Much effort has been paid to promote the performance of metal oxide nanowire transistors, and expand the application areas covering from sensing devices, transparent and flexible electronics, to memories and integrated logic circuits. In this review, we highlight the state-of-art progress in metal oxide nanowire transistors, with an emphasis on basic properties and performances. We summarize the characteristics of transistors based on different metal oxide nanowires, the strategies to improve the performance, and various application fields. Finally we present an outlook on the future development of metal oxide nanowire transistors, including the study of material properties, the design of device structures and the development of applications.