Zero-valent Fe-doped titania nanorods (Fe-0/TiNRs) were prepared through a simple in situ reduction route using TiNR as templates which were pre-synthesized by normal alkaline hydrothermal method. The sample was characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The photocatalytic degradation of acetic acid and formaldehyde was investigated under UV light irradiation. The results indicated that the photoactivity of Fe-0/TiNR was much higher than that of Degussa TiO2 (P-25). Thus, in this paper a novel magnetoswitchable controlled photocatalytic system (MCPS) was suggested which described a new method for reversibly controlling the photocatalysis process using ferromagnetic Fe-0/TiNR powders by means of an external magnet translocation. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.