Abstract TiO₂ semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs) in the anatase phase have presented limitations of application in photocatalysis, mainly due to the fast recombination of photoexcited electrons. The combination with other nanoparticles/nanostructures has been shown to be a promising solution for increasing photocatalytic efficiency. In this work, titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles in different crystalline phases were prepared through a rapid microwave-assisted synthesis and modified by silver nanoparticles (Ag) and graphene oxide (GO). The samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy and gas adsorption. Crystalline anatase NPs were obtained in basic conditions (pH = 8) while in acidic conditions (pH = 1), single-crystalline rutile NPs were formed. Different previous drying methods: oven and freeze-drying used led to a differentiation in crystallographic phases obtained. Anatase TiO₂ and anatase-rutile mixture NPs calcined at 400 °C showed properties as high specific surface area, crystallinity and reduced electron–hole recombination which contributed to an enhanced photocatalytic activity, when compared to the Degussa P25 photoactivity. The effect of silver nanoparticles and GO addition to TiO₂ nanopowder was evaluated for photocatalysis activity. An improvement in the methylene blue and rhodamine B dyes photodegradation was observed for both anatase and rutile TiO₂ nanocomposites. We noted that anatase TiO₂ nanoparticles degraded 53% of rhodamine B, and when functionalized with GO, the photodegradation increased to 69%. Comparatively, the addition of silver nanoparticles to anatase TiO₂ increased the dye degradation to 97% in 180 min. Hence, we revel that in the TiO₂ nanocomposites, silver nanoparticles showed better interfacial charge transfer than GO, contributing more effectively to the dye photodegradation process.