We first experimentally evaluate the direct imaging of photonic nanojets from core-shell microcylinders. The optimal photonic nanojet with long length, high intensity spot and low divergence is observed at the designed gold-silver coating microcylinder. A special microcylinder consists of a multilayered metallic shells (gold, silver and copper) and dielectric core (polydimethylsiloxane) at a diameter of 5 μm and a height of 6 μm. The electromagnetic distributions inside and outside the core-shell microcylinders are calculated by using finite-difference time-domain method. The direct imaging measurements for photonic nanojets are performed with a scanning optical microscope system. Such core-shell microcylinders provide new pathways for high resolution optical imaging which are useful for biophotonics, plasmonics and optical data storage.