Hydroxyapatite nanowires with a high axial ratio have been synthesized in reverse micelle solutions that consist of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), n-pentanol, cyclohexane, and the reactant solution by solvothermal methods. This paper focusses on the kinetic studies of the solvothermal reaction and the linear growth of hydroxyapatite nanowires. When the reaction was carried out at low temperatures (65°C), the experimental results showed that the reaction rate was of zero order since the whole reaction was diffusion controlled with constant diffusion coefficients. In the middle to high temperature range (130–200°C), the kinetics were characterized by second order reaction kinetics. Since the controlling factor was activation energy and the apparent activation energy was large, the reaction rate was more sensitive to the temperature. Therefore, the exponent of the reaction rate constant increased by two when the temperature was increased from 130 to 200°C. By calculating the yields of products and the specific surface areas at different times, the linear and overall growth rate equations of the hydroxyapatite nanowires could be obtained. The experimental effective growth order of the crystals was 11. The larger growth order indicated that the crystal could grow more effectively in one direction because of the induction of the surfactant in the experiment system.