The La3+-TiO2 photocatalysts were prepared by doping lanthanum ion into TiO2 structure in a sol-gel process. The catalyst samples were then characterized by XRD and XPS analyses. The analytical results demonstrated that the lanthanum doping could inhibit the phase transformation of TiO2 and enhance the thermal stability of TiO2 structure. In addition, it was found that the lanthanum doping could reduce the crystallite size and increase the Ti3+ content on the surface of the catalysts with the increase of lanthanum doping. With a purpose of odor control, 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) was used in this study as a model chemical and both the adsorption isotherm and photocatalytic activity of the La3+-TiO2 catalysts were evaluated based on the MBT photodegradation in aqueous solution. The experimental results showed that both the adsorption capacity and adsorption equilibrium constants of the La3+-TiO2 catalysts increased with an increase of lanthanum doping. The kinetics of the MBT photodegradation using different La3+-TiO2 catalysts was also studied. The experiments demonstrated that an optimum doping of lanthanum ion at 1.2% achieved the highest MBT photodegradation rate. It was concluded that the enhancement of MBT photodegradation using the La3+-TiO2 catalysts mainly involved in both the improvement ofthe organic substrate adsorption in catalysts suspension and the enhancement of the separation of electron-hole pairs owing to the presence of Ti3+. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.