Mesoporous titania nanoribbons were synthesized via an optimized soft hydrothermal process and the derived titania ion-sieves with lithium selective adsorption property were accordingly prepared via a simple solid-phase reaction between Li2CO3 and TiO2 nanomaterials followed by the acid treatment process to extract lithium from the Li2TiO3 ternary oxide precursors. First, mesoporous titania nanoribbons were prepared and the formation mechanism was discussed; second, the physical chemistry structure and texture were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), (high-resolution) transmission electron microscopy (TEM/HRTEM), selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) and N-2 adsorption-desorption analysis (BET); third, the lithium selective adsorption properties were tested by the adsorption isotherm, adsorption kinetics measurement and demonstrated with the distribution coefficient of a series of alkaline and alkaline-earth metal ions. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.