Nanocrystalline TiO2 anatase has been considered as a promising anode material for safer lithium-ion batteries. In this paper, nanocrystalline M-TiO2 anatase doped with a variety of first row transition metals (M = Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, or Cu) has been synthesized via a facile and scalable solution-based method. Structural characterization shows that the as-synthesized materials are composed of small clusters (6-10 nm in diameter), which are aggregated into secondary particles (a few microns in dimension). Further characterizations, such as powder X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, have been performed to show the anatase nature and homogeneity of the materials, confirming the successful doping. The dopants in anatase derivatives exhibit varied effects on energy density and rate performance in half-cell tests versus Li/Li+, as compared to pure anatase material, with each dopant causing substantial improvements or degradation. While Mn- and Fe-TiO2 are found to show similar behavior to pure anatase in long range cycle tests at the 1C rate (300 mA g(-1)), Ni- and Co-TiO2 show marked improvements with up to a 40% increase in discharge capacity. Rate performance tests on these two materials reveal up to a 109% improvement at 3C. (C) 2013 The Electrochemical Society. [DOI: 10.1149/2.003304jes] All rights reserved.