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Semiconductor photocatalysts has become one of the most attractive technologies in the field of environmental remediation. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is widely concerned due to the potential applications in the degradation of organic dyes. Nonetheless, the inherent wide band gap of TiO2 has been proved to restrict the photocatalytic activation under visible light, and a variety of strategies have been attempted to develop TiO2 composite catalysts with short band gap compositions, such as carbonaceous nanomaterials. In the recent progress, the present review attaches more importance to the unique morphology and fickle structure of carbonaceous–TiO2 photocatalysts, among which there are sandwich-like structure, foam-like structure, core–shell structure, nanotube, nanorod structure, semi-wrapped structure, etc., and all of them have been demonstrated in this paper. Furthermore, reviews of the enhanced mechanisms, synthesis method and performance comparison of carbonaceous–TiO2 photocatalysts reported in the literature are also suggested and conducted. In brief, this work provides some novel insights for the preparation of TiO2 composites as photocatalysts with excellent performance and contributes to promoting their application in environmental protection issues.

Based on the merits and demerits of conventional methods for fabricating TiO2@carbon nanofibers (TiO2@CNFs) composites, the composites were prepared via a foaming-assisted electrospinning strategy and subsequent thermal treatment. Betaine was used as the foaming agent and assembled with TiO2 before electrospinning. It was found that the foaming agent of betaine introduced within the solutions played a crucial role on the migration of TiO2 nanoparticles to the surface of CNFs, enabling their regular movement when the carbonization temperature increased from 400 to 1000 °C. The TiO2 loading amount on the surface of CNFs increased gradually with an enhanced temperature, resulting in an increase in specific surface area from 30.09 to 419.8 m2 g−1. In addition, the obtained TiO2@CNFs composites exhibited excellent hydrophilicity and high degree of graphitization. Accordingly, when the carbonization temperature increased, the composites presented an enhanced photocatalytic activity toward the degradation of rhodamine B. Hence, a novel method for preparing TiO2@CNFs composites with tailored TiO2 loading amount could be envisioned.