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In this work, we report a novel approach to fabricate titanium carbide (TiC) ceramics toughened by Y2O3introduced via chemical precipitation method. TiC ceramics with and without Y2O3addition were consolidated by SPS, and the densification, microstructure and fracture toughness were investigated. Compared to the additive-free counterpart, improved density and finer grain microstructure were found for TiC ceramics with Y2O3sintered at 1600 °C, indicating that Y2O3additive homogeneously scattered in TiC matrix could not only improve the density but also inhibit grain growth. In addition, the grain boundary was strengthened due to Y2O3pinning in grain boundary, leading to a fracture behaviour transformation from intergranular type to the mixed mode of intergranular and transgranular fracture. Because of the improved density and strengthened grain boundary, the fracture toughness increased from 4.3 to 5.3 MPa·m1/2, which is improved by ~23% compared with that of additive-free TiC sample. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]