Ultrafast carrier dynamics of nanostructured TiO2 films with and without Use quantum dot (QD) deposition were studied using a lensfree heterodyne detection transient grating (LF-HD-TG) technique. The natiostructured TiO2 films were prepared with anatase TiO2 nanoparticles with an average diameter of 27 nm. Use quantum dots with an average size of 5 nm were adsorbed onto the TiO2 films by a chemical deposition (CD) technique. The relaxation processes of the photoexcited electrons and holes can be detected separately using the LF-HD-TG technique. For the TiO2 film without CdSe deposition, it was found that the photoexcited holes relaxed within 2 ps. For the Use QD deposited nanostructured TiO2 film, two decay processes with time constants of 2 ps (tau(1)) and 16 PS (tau(2)) were detected. The fast decay process was attributed to photoexcited hole relaxation due to trapping in Use QDs. The slow decay process mainly reflected photoexcited electron transfer from Use QDs to TiO2. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.