A visible-light responsive anatase TiO2 was synthesized with a facile peptization-reflux method at 120 degrees C, using tetrabutyl titanate (TBT) as the titanium precursor. According to the results of various experiments and characterizations, we observed that in the low-temperature synthetic process of TiO2 catalysts, there is an equilibrium of hydrolytic decomposition and re-combination of Ti-(O-R) bond from the titanium precursor; the presence of acid and hydrolysis products (n-butanol) cooperatively lead to the retention of more alkoxyl groups on the anatase surface. Upon visible light irradiation, excited electrons could be generated from these alkoxyl-derived surface states, and the photocatalytic reactions through a ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) process were thus initiated. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.