Thin films of vanadia-titania with good adhesion to the substrates have been deposited on various substrates such as glass slides, glass helix and silica raschig rings by simple sol-gel dip coating process using vanadium and titanium peroxide gel. The optimum concentration of vanadia in titania for obtaining good uniform viscous gel was found to be 0.5-4 wt% beyond which the vanadia particles disturb the gel network, resulting in the formation of a gelatinous precipitate. The films of vanadia-titania as well as the dried powder of the bulk gel were characterized by different characterization techniques. Optical characterization by UV-vis spectrophotometer showed a shift in optical absorption wavelength to the visible region that may be due to the incorporation of vanadia into titania structure. The XRD revealed the formation of anatase phase in pure titania as well as titania with up to 2% vanadia loading, whereas formation of rutile as minor phase along with anatase as major phase was observed at higher vanadia loading. The XRD did not show any peaks of vanadia phase up to 5% vanadia loading indicating either incorporation of vanadia into titania structure or high dispersion of amorphous vanadia on titania support. The pure and vanadia doped TiO2 thin films were evaluated for their photocatalytic activity for degradation of methylene blue as a model pollutant under sunlight. Doping Of V2O5 in TiO2 showed an increase in the photo-degradation rate of methylene blue by a factor of 3-6.6 times compared to pure TiO2. The highest rate has been obtained for 4% V2O5-doped TiO2 films. Vanadia doped TiO2 thin films were also found to be very active for photocatalytic degradation of formaldehyde from aqueous solution in sunlight. (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.