At atmospheric pressure and room temperature, dielectric barrier discharge induced plasma oxidation for achieving supported TiO2 photocatalysts derived from TiCl4 adsorbed onto γ-Al2O3 pellets was studied. The supported TiO2/γ-Al2O3photocatalysts prepared by a cyclic ‘adsorption–discharge’ approach, without requirement of heat treatment, exhibit high activity in the photocatalytic degradation reaction of formaldehyde. The mass spectra and optical emission spectra during O2/Ar discharge for oxidizing the adsorbed-state TiCl4 were measured. The mechanism for the TiO2 formation from adsorbed-state TiCl4 by plasma oxidation was discussed.