Sol–gel derived rough anatase films without controlled particle sizes were prepared by surfactant templating. The coating sol–gel was obtained by hydrolysis of Ti(OC 3 H 7 ) 4 in ethanol/HNO 3 solution. The gel films, prepared by dipping glass substrates in surfactant solutions, were dried after immersion under an atmospheric pressure. The rough films of TiO 2 anatase were obtained after calcining at 500°C. The resultant films were transparent, semitransparent or opaque and 136–402nm thick. It was found that the TiO 2 films prepared from the sol–gel with surfactant showed a granular nanostructure, and they were composed of regular particles, for example; between 50 and 70nm. The roughness of the films was found to depend on the surfactant concentration in the sol–gel solution and can show a roughness between 0.82 and near of 17nm. The photocatalytic activity of the films for the degradation and mineralization of phenol, an industrial pollutant, in water and under 365nm irradiation was improved by the surfactant modification. Kinetic analysis of degradation and mineralization of phenol in water were employed to evaluate the different TiO 2 films under the same experimental conditions. The global photonic efficiency for degradation and mineralization of phenol ξ g , was calculated to facilitate comparison with a TiO 2 standard photocatalyst named Degussa P-25.