A magnesium oxide (MgOx) layer has been formed on TiO2 particles by a method consisting of irreversible adsorption of [Mg(acac)(2)] (process I) and the subsequent oxidation (process II) The quantitative analyses of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic data indicate that the MgOx submonolayer grows into a monolayer upon seven-time repetition of process I and II. Coating TiO2 with the MgOx submonolayer (coverage congruent to 0.5) increases the point of zero charge from 7.5 to 8.7 and significantly enhances TiO2 photocatalytic oxidation of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (DBS). The kinetic analyses reveal that the submonolayer coverage increases bath the adsorption equilibrium constant (K) and the rate constant for surface oxidation of DBS. The increase in K can be attributed to the electrostatic attraction between the surface (Mg-s-OH2+) and DBS- anions.