The large-scale hierarchical anatase titania nanotube arrays on transparent conductive substrate are fabricated via in situ conversion from anatase titania nanowire arrays. The first-step hydrothermal reaction is the growth of ultra-long anatase titania nanowire arrays, and the second-step hydrothermal reaction is the conversion of titania nanowire arrays to titania nanotube arrays modified with a large number of nanosheets. The resultant hierarchical titania nanotube array film provides a large surface area and superior light scattering ability. Dye-sensitized solar cell based on the hierarchical titania nanotube array photoanode obtains a power conversion efficiency as high as 5.96% and shows a prominent increase compared to the pristine titania nanowire array photoanode (2.12%). In addition, the most interesting result is that an optimized efficiency of 7.54% is achieved for the cell based on the hierarchical titania nanotube array photoanode with titania sol modification. (C) 2018 The Society of Powder Technology Japan. Published by Elsevier B.V. and The Society of Powder Technology Japan. All rights reserved.