© 2017 Elsevier B.V. The TiO 2 (anatase) films were prepared by sol-gel method using titanium (IV) isopropoxide (TTIP) as a precursor and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as a polymeric precursor dissolved in different alcohol solvents (methanol, ethanol, isopropanol and 1-butanol) and were heated treatment at 450 °C for 1 h. In this research, the alcohol solvents have significant influence on the morphology, crystalline degree and energy band gap of TiO 2 . The number of carbon, boiling point, dielectric constant and viscosity of alcohol solvents were the main factor influencing the size of TiO 2 nanoparticles. The alcohol solvent with higher boiling point and viscosity, and long length of carbon chain can lead to the smaller crystallite size. The number of carbon and viscosity of solvent and crystallite size can play the important role in the agglomeration of particles. The energy band gaps of the films determined by UV-visible spectroscopy were in the 3.00–3.30 eV range.