The alumina nanolayer structure with alternating high and low porosities is conveniently fabricated by applying a modified pulse voltage waveform with constant high and low voltage. This structure shows the well-defined layer in a long-range structural periodicity leads to a strong photonic band gap (PBG) from visible to near infrared and brilliant film colors. Compared with the previous reported tuning method, this method is more simple and flexible in tuning the PBG of photonic crystals (PCs). The effect of duration time of high, low and 0 V voltages on PBG is discussed. The first PBG could be modulated easily from the visible to near infrared region by varying the duration time of constant high or low voltages. It is also found that the 0 V lasting for appropriate time is helpful to improve the quality of the PCs. The formation mechanism of multilayer is also discussed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.