Preferentially oriented anatase TiO2 films were uniformly deposited on the surface of stainless steel substrate by a liquid phase deposition (LPD) method at 60 degrees C using TiF4 and H3BO3 as precursors. The as-prepared TiO2 films were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared TiO2 films was evaluated by the photocatalytic oxidation of NO in the gaseous phase. It was found that the deposition conditions, such as the precursor concentrations (H3BO3 and TiF4), the deposition time and the pH, had an obvious effect on the formation of oriented TiO2 films. The prepared TiO2 films showed a preferential orientation in the [0 0 1] direction perpendicular to the stainless steel substrate. A formation mechanism was proposed to account for the preferential orientation and textured morphology of the TiO, films. The photocatalytic oxidation of NO indicated that the preferentially oriented TiO2 films exhibited an obvious photocatalytic activity without high-temperature calcination. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.