The hydrogenation induced band-edge tailing with the resultant red-shift in the absorption spectrum and the creation of oxygen vacancies have incredible impact on the functionality of the monophasic titania photocatalyst in detoxification of aqueous pollutant under solar radiation. The mixed phase titania with optimum phase ratio consistently shows high activity in UV and/or visible radiation flux due to efficient separation of photo-generated charge carriers. We demonstrate that the hydrogenation of mixed phase titania (anatase-to-rutile ratio = 0.67) shows 15 times higher photocatalytic activity in the degradation of aqueous probe pollutant under the visible light, than the non-hydrogenated Degussa P25 catalyst. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.