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Titania based catalyst and TiO2 doped with zirconia were prepared by modified sol–gel method. The synthesized catalysts samples were characterized by BET, XRD, SEM and FTIR techniques. Photocatalytic activity was tested in the reaction of crystal violet (CV) dye decolorization/decomposition under UV light irradiation. The effect of several operational parameters, such as catalyst dosage, initial dye concentrations, duration of UV irradiation treatment and number of reaction cycles were also considered. The obtained results indicated faster dye decolorization with the increase of the catalyst amount and a decrease of initial CV concentrations. An influence of doping with zirconia on the physico-chemical properties of bare titania was studied. The doping procedure had affected photocatalytic properties of the final catalytic material, and had improved photocatalytic performances of doped catalyst on crystal violet decolorization/degradation in comparison to bare titania. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 1612008, Grant no. 45012 and Grant no. 172061]