A series of one-dimensional anatase nanorods TiO2 with various lengths and aspect ratios are synthesized. The smallest rods TiO2 (EOA) with a length of 20-40 nm and a width of about 5 nm possess extremely high surface area (151.5 m(2) g(-1)) compared to P25 (56.4 m(2) g(-1)) and the largest rods TiO2 (TMA-L) with a length of 800 nm and a width of about 200 nm result in very low transmittance. The EOA show the lower R-w (charge transport resistance) and higher R-k (charge recombination resistance) than the P25. It indicates that the one-dimensional TiO2 structure lowers the charge transport resistance by decreasing grain boundary and stretching grown structure with the specified directionality, and increases recombination reaction due to reducing the surface defects. A higher light-to-electricity conversion yield of 5.61% is achieved by applying the EOA as compared with P25 (5.08%). The TMA-L coat on the EOA film to form double-layer films enhances the efficiency from 5.61 to 5.84%, and the scattering layer of the blending of EOA and TMA-L coated on the EOA film raises the efficiency to 6.08%. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.