A series of photocatalysts based on silica (nanoparticulate) supported titania, ceria, and ceria/zirconia were synthesized and characterized by a variety of techniques including surface area measurements, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, zeta potential, surface charge density, and photocatalytic behavior toward methylene blue decomposition. Thermal treatment at 600 degrees C increases the anatase content of the titania based catalysts detected by XRD. Changes in the infrared spectra before and after thermal treatment indicate that at low temperature there are more Si-O-Ti bonds than at high temperature. As these bonds break upon heating the SiO2 and TiO2 separate, allowing the TiO2 anatase phase to form. This results in an increased catalytic activity for the thermally treated samples. Nearly all titania based samples exhibit a negative surface charge density at pH 7 (initial pH of photocatalytic studies) which aids adsorption of methylene blue. The crystallinity of ceria and ceria/zirconia based catalysts are in some cases limited, and in others non-existent. Even though the energy band gap (E-g) can be lower for these catalysts than for the titania based catalysts, their photocatalytic properties are inferior. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.