Here we demonstrated an approach to increase performance of P3HT:TiO2 solar cell either by electron deficient boron or electron rich bismuth doping into TiO2 nanorods. The B doping increases the absorption, crystallinity and electron mobility of TiO2 nanorods. The Bi-doped TiO2 has higher A, as compared with B-doped TiO2, mainly due to the improvement of electron density and increased absorption of TiO2 nanorods. The devices were fabricated from TiO2 nanorods being surface modified by organic dye W-4. The dye facilitates the bandgap alignment and compatibility between TiO2 and P3HT. The power conversion efficiency of solar cell has been increased by 1.33 times and 1.30 times for Bi-doped TiO2 and Bdoped TiO2, respectively, as compared with that of as-synthesized TiO2. The results suggest the optical and electronic properties of TiO2 can be tuned by various dopants to enhance the device performance. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved,