Ag or Pt-deposited TiO2 nanocomposites were prepared by a simple method, in which oriented TiO2 nanorods were synthesized by a hydrothermal method and a noble metal (Ag or Pt) was deposited on TiO2 by photocatalytic reduction under UV irradiation. The oriented TiO2 nanorods with Ag or Pt nanoparticles (<20 nm) exhibited high CO2 photoreduction efficiency, with CH4 yield rates up to 16.0 ppm/g h and 10.8 ppm/g h, respectively, considerably higher than that of the pure TiO2 nanorods (4.2 ppm/g h). The improvement in the CH4 yield was attributed to the formation of a Schottky barrier and surface plasmon resonance. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.