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A 20-day sludge biodrying process was coupled with photocatalysis to improve biodrying efficiency and investigate the effect of photocatalysis on biodegradation. After biodrying, the moisture content in the coupled photocatalytic group (T CA) and the control group (T UCA) decreased from 63.61% to 50.82% and 52.94%, respectively, and the volatile solids content decreased from 73.18% to 63.42% and 64.39%, respectively. Neutral proteinase activity decreased by 9.38% and 28.69%, and lipase activity decreased by 6.12% and 26.17%, respectively, indicating that photocatalysis helped maintain neutral proteinase and lipase activities. The Chao1 and Shannon indices showed that photocatalysis increased fungal diversity and reduced bacterial richness and diversity. The β diversity clustering analysis indicated that the bacterial community structure during the thermophilic phase in T CA differed from that in T UCA. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes annotation showed that photocatalysis has the potential to promote the synthesis and degradation of ketone bodies. Biodrying coupled with photocatalysis can improve the dewatering of sludge without negatively affecting biodegradation. [Display omitted] • Photocatalysis was applied to sludge biodrying. • The negative effects of TiO 2 addition on biodegradation and microbial communities were not observed. • Coupled photocatalysis helped the maintenance of enzyme activity. • The functional metabolism of microorganisms was analyzed using KEGG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]