Surface modification of TiO2 film providespossibilities to improve photoelectrochemical (PEC) activity. In this study, we report on phosphate modified N/Si co-doped TiO2 nanorods films (Pi-N/Si-TiO2 NRs) for PEC water oxidation. Compared to the pristine TiO2 NRs, the Pi-N/Si-TiO2 NRs photoanode shows a 4.65-fold enhanced photocurrent density (1.44 mA cm(-2)) under light illumination. This significant improvement can be attributed to the synergistic effect of phosphate modification and the N and Si co-dopants. In addition to the improvement of ultraviolet and visible light response by N and Si co-dopants, phosphate modification is mainly responsible for charge transfer at the interface of the photoanode/electrolyte. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.