The steam treatment of hexagonally ordered uniformly me soporous (h-UM) amorphous TiO2 at 120 degrees C for 1 h leads to highly crystalline h-UM anatase. This process is feasible for the large scale (>50 g) preparation. The surface area-normalized photocatalytic activities of h-UM anatase for water reduction and methylene blue and 4-chlorophenol decompositions are remarkably superior to those of wormhole-like randomly mesoporous anatase and anatase nanoparticles, demonstrating an important reason to prepare anatase in UM forms. Due to the extended crystalline interconnection, the band gap energy h-UM anatase decreases by 0.22 eV with respect to that of 25 nm anatase nanoparticle. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.