The design of ordered nonsiliceous mesoporous materials is illustrated based on the surfactant assembly and confinedspace growth. These materials include mesoporous metal oxides, polymers, and carbons with open framework structures, and single-crystal metal, metal oxide and carbon nanoarrays with replicated mesostructures. A generalized "acid-base pair" concept, which self-adjusts the acidity and homogeneity of the inorganic precursor, is proposed to prepare highly ordered mesoporous metal oxides, phosphates and borates, as well as mixed metal oxides and phosphates, with diverse structures. Mesoscopically ordered polymer frameworks with uniformly large pore sizes are derived from the self-assembly from organic templates and organic precursors. Heating these materials transforms them to homologous carbon frameworks. Microwave digested method is an efficient way to enhance the adsorption property of hard silica templates in fabricating ordered nonsiliceous single-crystal nanoarrays. The coordination of organic surfactants with metal ions is also a method to increase the interaction between hard templates and precursors. A one-step impregnation process is used to fabricate ordered silica monoliths with various metal oxide nanocrystals. Improving the interactions between the precursors themselves plays an essential role in replicating ordered mesoporous CdS, SiC and graphitized carbons. Preliminary applications in bone-forming materials, biosensors and electrodes are presented as well.