Er(3+)-TiO(2) synthesized by surfactant free hydrothermal method exhibit good photoactivities under sun-like excitation for the degradation of phenol. The presence of Er(3+) does not affect significantly to the structural and morphological features of the TiO(2). The best photocatalytic performance was attained for the samples with 2%wt of Er. Different photocatalytic runs pointed out that the incorporation of the Er(3+) cation would be the responsible of the enhanced photocatalytic activity participating in different mechanisms under UV and NIR excitation.