Since the conversion of solar energy to electric or chemical forms is essential for achieving a sustainable society, the development of novel photo-catalytic materials is a subject of considerable interest. Here we report on the facile synthesis of a visible light sensitive photo-catalyst by doping a large amount of carbon into TiO2 nanoparticles. The findings show that carbon is clearly incorporated into the TiO2 framework, as evidenced by TPO, XANES, and EXAFS. The photo-catalytic activity of the carbon-doped TiO2 is increased by more than 4 times, compared to commercial TiO2 P25 for the degradation of phenol under irradiation by white light. Additionally, we observed for the first time that the carbon-doped TiO2 shows catalytic activity under irradiation by visible light at wavelengths longer than 600 nm. The synthetic method developed in this study is very simple, and doping level of carbon can be easily controlled by changing the synthetic conditions used. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.