Partial photocatalytic oxidation of salicyl alcohol (2-hydroxybenzyl alcohol) to salicylaldehyde in water was investigated under environmental friendly conditions in the presence of home-prepared and commercial TiO2 (Merck and Aeroxide P25) samples under UVA irradiation. The photocatalysts were characterized by using BET, XRD, SEM and/or TEM techniques. The effects of crystallinity degree, pH (3-11) and presence of a hole trap (ethanol) on the photocatalytic activity and product selectivity were investigated. 4-Hydroxybenzyl alcohol was also used to study the influence of the position of the substituent group in the aromatic ring. High alcohols conversion and product selectivity values were obtained at pH = 11 by using well crystallized TiO2 samples. The conversion values significantly decreased by increasing the hole trap concentration, whereas the selectivity values increased slightly. The selectivity towards the corresponding aldehyde after 30% of alcohol conversion was significantly higher for 4-HBA (48%) than for 2-HBA (32%), due to the role of the para position of the substituent group. In order to clarify the different selectivity of the products, various experiments have been also performed starting from the products; these results indicate that the selectivity is also strongly dependent on the stability of the formed products under the experimental conditions used. By concluding, this article reports that the conversion and selectivity values for the studied reaction depend both on the TiO2 type and on the substrate.