The effect of alcohol washing on the anatase-rutile transition of precipitated titanium oxide was investigated using X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier-transform IR spectroscopy, and thermogravimetry. Alcohol(butanol) rinsing accelerated the anatase-rutile transition of precipitated titanium oxide powder so that the onset temperature of transition decreased drastically from 800 degrees C for water-washed powder to 550 degrees C for alcohol-rinsed powder. Alternation of transition kinetics and mechanisms by rinsing media could be confirmed from the analysis of temperature and time dependence of rutile content. The attributability of the chemical state of anatase after crystallization, which contained H2O, OH, and organic residues, to the change of transition kinetics with alcohol rinsing will be discussed. Two mechanisms, the effect of residual organics and/or H2O(OH), could be suggested on the basis of analysis of the difference between chemical states of water-washed anatase and alcohol-rinsed powder.