Different TiO2 mesoporous structures, including core-shell spheres (CCSs) and micro-tubes (MTs), are synthesized through adjusting the pH of the solution using TiOSO4 as titanium source in a hydrothermal route. TiO2 CSSs with an average diameter of 1.3-3.5 lm exhibit excellent light scattering property and high specific surface area (177.63 m(2) g(-1)). TiO2 MTs show ultrahigh specific surface area of 276.03 m(2) g(-1). Dye-sensitized solar cell is fabricated using TiO2 CSSs as the light scattering layer and TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) layer as the bottom layer. The efficiency of Cell-NPs + CSSs is up to 9.24% due to the good light scattering effect and excellent dye loading capacity. Furthermore, TiO2 MTs are introduced to form the NPs/ MTs bottom layer. The Cell-NPs/MTs + CSSs achieves an outstanding efficiency of 9.60% due to the further optimized electron transport path. (c) 2021 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.