Joints provide a smart and efficient route to capture and move objects. Inspired by this, we designed and synthesized an anatase TiO2 based organic-inorganic hybrid photocatalyst using a facile one-pot solvothermal method, which has hard cores (single-crystal TiO2 nanocuboids) and soft shells (organic composites). The smart-joint organic layer (DMEA and LA) plays a crucial role in trapping Rhodamine B molecules and delivering them on the TiO2 interfaces. The novel core-shell photocatalyst shows superior RhB photodegradation performance, 10 times higher than Degussa P25, which enables the RhB degradation in several minutes. TiO2-DMEA-LA-120 system, which plays the similar synergy as the arm with joints, provides a novel method to improve catalytic performance learning from nature. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.