The electronic structures and optical properties of non-compensated (C, H)-, compensated (N, H)- and (C, 2H)-doped anatase TiO2 have been investigated using spin-polarized density functional theory. The calculated results indicated that compensated (N, H) codoped TiO2 exhibited the enhanced optical absorption under visible-light irradiation in comparison with N doped TiO2 and pure TiO2. Compensated (C, 2H) codoped TiO2 may also be a good candidate for visible-light photocatalyst materials due to the band gap narrowing significantly and the elimination of some local states. (C) 2012 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.