Iron-titanium binary oxides were synthesized by template-assisted hydrothermal method. The effect of the variation in the Fe/Ti ratio and the temperature of hydrothermal treatment on the phase composition, structural, textural and redox characteristics of thus obtained materials was studied by Nitrogen physisorption, XRD, SEM, HRTEM, XPS, Raman, UV-vis, FTIR and Moessbauer spectroscopy and TPR with hydrogen. The contribution of various features of the samples on their catalytic behaviour in total oxidation of ethyl acetate as a representative VOC was in the focus of the discussion. The binary materials represent a complex mixture of pure and substituted anatase and/or hematite phases with different dispersion and proportion, which can be controlled by both the variation in the Fe/Ti ratio and the temperature of hydrothermal treatment. The stabilization of finely dispersed hematite-like particles in the vicinity of Fe3+ substituted in titania was considered as an important factor for the improvement of the catalytic activity and selectivity in total oxidation of ethyl acetate and it is favoured by the lower Fe/Ti ratio and the lower temperature of the hydrothermal treatment. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.