The carbon-doped titania with high surface area was prepared by temperature-programmed carbonization of K-contained anatase titania under a flow of cyclohexane. This carbon-doped titania has much better photocatalytic activity for gas-phase photo-oxidation of benzene under irradiation of artificial solar light than pure titania. The visible light photocatalytic activity is ascribed to the presence of oxygen vacancy states because of the formation of Ti3+ species between the valence and the conduction bands in the TiO2 band structure. The co-existence of K and carbonaceous species together stabilize Ti3+ species and the oxygen vacancy state in the as-synthesized carbon-doped titania. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.