Visible-light responsive carbon modified TiO2 was synthesized through simple precipitation of tetrabutyl titanate in proper amount of water The as-synthesized catalyst was characterized by elemental analysis, N-2 adsorption-desorption analysis. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). Raman spectroscopy, transmission election microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The results indicate that carbon modifies TiO2 in two ways doping as interstitial carbon in the crystal lattice and coating as graphite-like carbon on the Surface It is found that the interstitial carbon Could narrow the band gal), and the graphite-like carbon Could serve as sensitizer. The sensitization effect of graphite-like carbon IS found to contribute greatly to the excellent photocatalytic performance of carbon modified TiO2. It has been found that 95 6% of MO was decolorized within 120 min and 92.7% of Cr(VI) was reduced within 90 min in the presence of phenol The formation mechanism of the carbon modified TiO2 has been discussed. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.