The SiO2-(WO3)(x)center dot TiO2 composite aerogels with high crystallinity and porosity were successfully synthesized via a novel ambient pressure drying. Before the solvent exchange/surface modification process was conducted, a solvothermal crystallization process was adopted for the SiO2/bacterial-cellulose (BC) composite gel to be loaded with (WO3)(x)center dot TiO2 particles. The results indicate that using BC template and solvothermal assisted crystallization was an effective way to increase the porosity and crystallinity of the composite aerogels simultaneously. The obtained composite aerogels exhibited higher specific surface area and pore volume, and showed much higher removing rate of Rhodamine B than P25 powder due to its enhanced adsorption/photocatalytic activity. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.