Photovoltaic devices in a wire format have recently attracted increasing attention as, compared with the conventional planar structure, they show unique and promising advantages. For instance, they are light-weight and can be easily woven into clothes or integrated into other structures, which enable applications in electronic textiles and various complex devices. In this tutorial review, the recent advancement in photovoltaic wires including both dye-sensitized and polymer solar cells are described. Two main architectures based on a single core-sheath fiber and twisted fibers are carefully illustrated with an emphasis on the comparison of various substrates which have been focused in past development. The current challenge including low energy conversion efficiency and low stability and future direction of the wire-shaped cell have been finally summarized.