Here we report a sustainable process for photo-induced hydrogen production from aqueous solutions of oxygenated hydrocarbons. Doping N and B into TiO2 noticeably improves its activity for hydrogen production. The addition of oxygenated hydrocarbons into water serves both as a hydrogen source and as an electron donor, which substantially enhances hydrogen production as compared with that for the photo-catalytic splitting of pure water. Other biomass-derived compounds such as glucose and sucrose are also shown to have potential for hydrogen production by this photo-catalytic conversion. (C) 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.