Carbonated fluorapatite–titania composite nanopowders were successfully synthesized by a facile room-temperature mechanochemical process. Mixtures of calcium carbonate, phosphorous pentoxide and calcium fluoride with different amounts of titania (0, 3, 6, and 9wt%) were milled using a high-energy planetary ball mill for 10h. Results showed that a gradual transformation occurred during the mechanical activation. In the absence of titania, nanosized B-type carbonated fluorapatite with crystallite size of 69±3nm was formed. In the presence of 3–9wt% titania, mechanochemical reaction caused the formation of carbonated fluorapatite–titania composite nanopowders. The crystallite size declined drastically and reached 12±1nm when the titania content was increased to 9wt%. In contrast, the lattice strain and volume fraction of grain boundary increased notably from 0.0045±0.0002 to 0.0084±0.0004 and from 4±0.21% to 21±1.07%, respectively, while the titania content rose from 0 to 9wt%. From the data obtained, the unit cell volume of carbonated fluorapatite was influenced strongly by the titania content, whereby the sharp increase in unit cell volume from 524.42 to 530.40Å 3 was due to the increase of the titania content from 0 to 9wt%, respectively. Microscopic observations indicated that the product had a cluster-like structure with an average particle size of about 75nm.