Titanate porous films have been deposited on glass slides by a sol-gel dip-coating technology. Tetrabutylorthotitanate and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were used as a precursor and template, respectively. The chemical mechanism of the process is discussed in relation to the sol-gel transition, which provides a possible interpretation to the formation of TiO2 porous films. The morphology of porous TiO2 thin films strongly depends on the amount of water, the types of solvents and complexing agents, and the content and molecular weight of the template. It was shown that the diameter of pores is tunable in the range of 10 nm-1 mum and the maximum of BET specific area of the films is 72 m(2) g(-1). (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.