Nanofibers prepared by an electrospinning method were used to remove elemental mercury (Hg 0 ) from simulated coal combustion flue gas. The nanofibers composed of different metal oxides (MO x ) including CuO, In 2 O 3 , V 2 O 5 , WO 3 and Ag 2 O supported on TiO 2 have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersing X-ray (EDX) and UV–vis spectra. The average diameters of these nanofibers were about 200nm. Compared to pure TiO 2 , the UV–vis absorption intensity for MO x –TiO 2 increased significantly and the absorption bandwidth also expanded, especially for Ag 2 O–TiO 2 and V 2 O 5 –TiO 2 . Hg 0 oxidation efficiencies over the MO x –TiO 2 nanofibers were tested under dark, visible light (vis) irradiation and UV irradiation, respectively. The results showed that WO 3 doped TiO 2 exhibited the highest Hg 0 removal efficiency of 100% under UV irradiation. Doping V 2 O 5 into TiO 2 enhanced Hg 0 removal efficiency greatly from 6% to 63% under visible light irradiation. Ag 2 O doped TiO 2 showed a steady Hg 0 removal efficiency of around 95% without any light due to the formation of silver amalgam. An extended experiment with 8 Hg 0 removal cycles showed that the MO x –TiO 2 nanofibers were stable for removing Hg 0 from flue gas. Factors responsible for the enhanced photocatalytic activities of the MO x –TiO 2 nanofibers were also discussed.