A conventional glow discharge was utilized to study the factors controlling the transition between different types of nanostructures during their synthesis in plasma. Two types of nanostructures – namely, vertically standing two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets and one-dimensional (1D) nanowires – were obtained in the same experiment at different positions on a disk-shaped copper screen mounted concentrically with a cylindrical cathode in the electrical setup. Three zones were distinguished based on SEM studies of the surface of the copper screen oxidized for 30 min at 620 Pa, with a discharge voltage and current of 740 V and 0.25 A, respectively. A zone located at the distance of 20 mm from the center of the cathode at the close (~ 2 mm) proximity to the electrically biased cathode surface, exhibited dense, thick 2D nanowalls; the zone located 35 mm from the center also showed thinner 2D nanowalls; and the zone 45 mm from the center exhibited the formation of 1D nanowires. The difference is attributed to the variation in distance from the cathode, which serves as a source of an additional flux of copper atoms sputtered by ion bombardment. At the same time, the kinetic energy of glow discharge ions, in the range of 30–700 eV, is considered a factor that does not significantly affect the transition between the formation of 2D and 1D nanostructures.