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It has been partially shown that salicylic acid (SA) as an imprinting molecule can produce better photocatalytic effect, while the contribution of SA as a molecular imprinting and degradation substrate is not clear. Herein, SA-TiO2 was prepared by a one-step molecular imprinting method using SA as the imprinting molecule and tetra-n-butyl titanate as the precursor, which was analyzed by XRD, UV–Vis, SEM, TEM-EDS, XPS, PL, FT-IR, EIS, and photocurrent response. The results shown that 1.5SA-TiO2 had the best electrochemical properties and therefore the best photoelectric effect. Moreover, the decolorization rates of SA within 30 min were 49.25% and 62.69% for TiO2 and SA-TiO2, respectively, indicating that the synthesized SA-TiO2 had better photocatalytic performance and could be applied in future scenarios for the efficient degradation of SA wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]