Sol-gel derived rough anatase films without controlled particle sizes were prepared by surfactant templating. The coating sol-gel was obtained by hydrolysis of Ti(OC3H7)(4) in ethanol/HNO3 Solution. The gel films, prepared by dipping glass substrates in surfactant solutions, were dried after immersion under an atmospheric pressure. The rough films of TiO2, anatase were obtained after calcining at 500 degrees C. The resultant films were transparent, semitransparent or opaque and 136-402 nm thick. It was found that the TiO2 films prepared from the sol-gel with surfactant showed a granular nanostructure, and they were composed of regular particles, for example; between 50 and 70 nm. The roughness of the films was found to depend on the surfactant concentration in the sol-gel solution and can show a roughness between 0.82 and near of 17 nm. The photocatalytic activity of the films for the degradation and mineralization of phenol, an industrial pollutant, in water and under 365 nm irradiation was improved by the surfactant modification. Kinetic analysis of degradation and mineralization of phenol in water were employed to evaluate the different TiO2 films under the same experimental conditions. The global photonic efficiency for degradation and mineralization of phenol g, was calculated to facilitate comparison with a TiO2 standard photocatalyst named Degussa P-25. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.