Room temperature ferromagnetism (FM) is observed for annealed heavily niobium doped titania (TNO) thin films on silicon substrates and on glass nanospheres. Precipitation of similar to 10-30 nm-diameter Nb2O5 nanoparticles occurs in the TNO films air-annealed at 600 degrees C or above and enhances their saturation magnetization (M-s). The largest M-s is found in the 800 degrees C annealed 40 nm-thick TNO films on glass nanospheres (similar to 6 x 10(4) A/m) and the Ms reduces as films increased in thickness or deposited on flat Si substrates or annealed at lower temperature or in hydrogen. This work demonstrates that nano-precipitates and interfaces are both significant factors in achieving enhanced FM in the titania based thin films. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.