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In recent years, great attention has been paid to the synthesis of nano-size TiO 2 due to its wide range of applications, particularly in the area of degradation of organic pollutants. In this study, different surfactants were used in synthesizing TiO 2 and Zr-doped TiO 2 nanoparticles. The effects of the surfactants' types and concentrations on the morphology and size of the TiO 2 nanoparticles were studied. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the TiO 2 nanoparticles are a mixture of two anatase and rutile phases, whereas the surfactant-modified TiO 2 nanoparticles have a dominant anatase phase. According to the SEM images, the synthesized nanoparticles' morphologies depended not only on the type, but also on the concentration of the surfactants. The photocatalytic behavior of the nanoparticles on the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye was evaluated. The maximum efficiency was achieved for the TiO 2 nanoparticles synthesized using 0.08 molar surfactant Sodium bis(2ethylhexyl)sulfosuccinate; reached 76% after 300 min of ultraviolet radiation. This indicated superior photocatalytic activity of this sample compared to all other synthesized nanoparticles, due to its uniform spherical morphology and particle sizes of 40-50 nm. For this sample, the effects of such parameters as catalyst amount and MB dye solution pH and temperature were optimized for its photocatalytic activity.