Titanium dioxide (TiO2) films on glass substrates were prepared by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The dependence of crystal structure, morphology and photocatalytic activity on oxygen partial pressure were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM) and UV-VIS spectrophotometer. By increasing oxygen partial pressure, the surface morphology changed from smooth to rough, and the crystal structure changed from rutile to anatase at fixed substrate temperature of 773 K. The change of the surface morphology and the formation of anatase structure by variation of oxygen partial pressure resulted in an increase of photocatalytic activity. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.