Three Au-based nanomaterials (silica@Au nanoshells, hollow Au/Ag nanospheres and Au nanorods) were evaluated for their comparative photothermal efficiencies at killing three types of malignant cells (A549 lung cancer cells, HeLa cervix cancer cells and TCC bladder cancer cells) using a CW NIR laser. Photodestructive efficiency was evaluated as a function of the number of nanoparticles required to destroy the cancer cells under 808 nm laser wavelength at fixed laser power. Of the three nanomaterials, silica@Au nanoshells needed the minimum number of particles to produce effective photodestruction, whereas Au nanorods needed the largest number of particles. Together with the calculated photothermal conversion efficiency, the photothermal efficiency rankings are silica@Au nanoshells > hollow Au/Ag nanospheres > Au nanorods. Additionally, we found that HeLa cells seem to present better heat tolerance than the other two cancer cell lines.