TiO2-ZnO mixed oxides (1.0, 3.0, 5.0 and 10.0 wt.% Zn) photoconductors were prepared by the sol-gel method and used for the H-2 production from water splitting. The solids were characterized by nitrogen physisorption, XRD, RAMAN, EDS, UV-Vis and XPS spectroscopy. High specific surface areas (85-159 m(2)/g) were obtained in all the mixed oxides compared to the bare TiO2 sample (64 m(2)/g). XRD and Raman spectra show that anatase is the predominant crystalline phase on the TiO2-ZnO solids. The band gap energy of the solids is in the interval from 3.05 to 3.12 eV which are in the same order than TiO2 (3.2 eV). These solids were proved in the photocatalytic water splitting and resulted six times more active (1300 mu mol/h) than the reference TiO2 (190 mu mol/h) semiconductor. (R) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.