Titanium oxide layers were prepared on pure aluminium substrates by the anodic spark deposition method. The formed crystalline titania (TiO(2)) phases rutile and anatase and the sodium titanium oxide (Na(0.23)TiO(2)) were identified. The corresponding crystallite size values were obtained from X-ray diffraction data by means of the Rietveld method. The crystallite size of each of these phases continuously increases with rising current density. Furthermore, the two-dimensional distribution of the titania phases on the sample surface was determined by Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the rutile/anatase ratio is inhomogeneous distributed on an observed area of 400 x 400 mu m(2). (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.