The development of TiO2 based 1-D nanomaterials received a significant stimulus since alkali hydrothermal process has been proposed as a new template-free method for obtaining nanotubes and/or nanobelts with high surface area. This new nanomaterial offers a novel combination of chemistry, morphology, structural, physical and chemical properties. From the structural point of view, they are layered titanates with general chemical formula H2Ti3O7. Due to their high surface area and semiconductor properties these new 1-D nanomaterials have been studied in photocatalytic applications for the degradation of liquid and/or gas pollutants. At the same time 1-D nanostructure titanates are being considered as potential precursors for further development of novel TiO2 based photocatalytic nanomaterials through thermal and/or soft-chemical (acid) post-treatments. The study presented here aims at the development of active TiO2 based nanomaterials capable of photo-oxidative degradation of NOx, which are of potential interest for petroleum refineries since they are one of the main industrial sources of NOx pollution and because environmental regulations tend to become more and more rigid. Titanate nanotubes have been synthesized by submitting a commercial anatase powder to a selected alkaline hydrothermal condition, followed by acid washing of the precipitate. The as-prepared titanate nanotubes (TTNT) were post-treated, either through calcination in air or by aging in the presence of sulfuric acid, in order to produce different TiO2 based nanomaterials. These have been thoroughly characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, BET analysis, diffuse-reflectance UV–Vis spectroscopy, infra-red spectroscopy and elementary analysis for sulphur, while their photocatalytic activity have been evaluated by flowing NO (100 ppm in He) through a photo-reactor equipped with three UV lamps attached to a Gas chromatograph / Mass spectrometer system. Despite its high surface area and typical optical properties of semiconductors, the as synthesized titanate nanotubes (H2Ti3O7) proved to be poor photocatalysts for the degradation of NO. In contrast, some of their derivatives obtained through thermal and acid post-treatments showed promising photocatalytic activities. In the case of the heat treated samples, the improved photocatalytic activity was due to the phase transition into TiO2 phases occurring above 350oC and that resulted in the formation of anatase nanorods. For the acid treated samples exhibiting high photocatalytic activities a complete phase transformation into anatase was verified as well. Therefore, anatase was the predominant phase for all good photocatalysts prepared in this study. The most active anatase sample in the study (named A5) was the one formed of nanorods obtained by calcining the precursor TTNT at 550oC. Its counterpart obtained via acidic treatment with similar chemical composition and surface area but constituted of truncated bipyramidal nanoparticles, was less active. The rod-like morphology of anatase in the former case developed (001) facets with considerable extension and the higher surface energy of its prevailing (001) planes relative to the (101) planes predominantly found in the truncated bipyramidal anatase nanoparticles (synthesized in the second case), was suggested to explain the differences in their photocatalytic activity. The remaining SO42- content in the other anatase samples derived from acidic aging was dependent on the pH of the H2SO4 treatment and was assigned as a possible explanation for the lower photocatalytic activity of the high surface anatase samples obtained via this route, since it might be impairing surface hydroxyl radicals to react with the adsorbed NO. The photocatalytic activity of all samples has been compared to the activity of the commercial TiO2 P-25 (Degussa) which is considered a benchmark photocatalysts. The sample A5 presented 20% higher photocatalytic activity for NO degradation as compared to P-25.