High crystallinity of TiO_2 was prepared by a modified alcohothermal method, in which titanium isopropoxide was used as the titania precursor, absolute ethanol as the reaction medium, and NH_4HCO_3 as the raw materials for release of water, ammonia and carbon dioxides via in-situ decomposition. The X-ray powder diffraction(XRD) and transmission electron microscope(TEM) measurements showed that water and ammonia from the in-situ decomposition of NH_4HCO_3 played an important role in conducting the size, shape, crystallinity and microstructure of TiO_2. The photoluminescence spectroscopy and photocurrent measurements indicated that enhanced crystallinity could hinder the recombination and promote the separation of electron-hole pairs in TiO_2, which contribute to the improvement of photocatalytic activity.Methyl orange photodegradation under UV light confirmed that high crystallinity of TiO_2 did present a high photocatalytic activity due to the effective separation of photoinduced charges. High crystallinity of TiO_2 was prepared by a modified alcohothermal method, in which titanium isopropoxide was used as the titania precursor, absolute ethanol as the reaction medium, and NH_4HCO_3 as the raw materials for release of water, ammonia and carbon dioxides via in-situ decomposition . The X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) measurements showed that water and ammonia from the in-situ decomposition of NH_4HCO_3 played an important role in conducting the size, shape, crystallinity and microstructure of TiO_2. The photoluminescence spectroscopy and photocurrent measurements indicated that enhanced crystallinity could hinder the recombination and promote the separation of electron-hole pairs in TiO 2 which contribute to the improvement of photocatalytic activity. Methyl orange photodegradation under UV light confirmed that high crystallinity of TiO 2 did present a high photocatalytic activity due to the effective separation of photoinduced charg es.