Vanadium (IV/V) doped rutile TiO2 naonorods had been successfully synthesized through a single step hydrothermal method. The photocatalyst was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-vis diffusive reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results showed that the doping of V ions had significant influence on the band gap energy and the surface state of TiO2. The photo-activities of the new catalysts were investigated under ultraviolet (UV) and visible light. The UV-photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared catalysts was hardly influenced by doping V ions: while under visible light, the samples with 1 wt% and 0.1 wt% V exhibited enhanced activity to the oxidation of methylene blue (MB) and the reduction of Cr (VI), respectively. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.