A carbon-modified titanium dioxide photocatalyst, PF/TiO
2, was prepared by calcining self-prepared phenolic resin (PF) and TiO
2 in N
2 atmosphere. The as-prepared
PF/TiO
2 samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. PF/TiO
2 has similar crystal phase and morphology to raw TiO
2 and has significant absorption in the visible region. The XPS observed the presence of C
n, C–OH(C–O–C), and C=O(COO) species, which confirms that there is graphite carbonaceous matter on the surface of PF/TiO
2. During the calcination, the phenolic resin on the surface of PF/TiO
2 has been carbonized. The photocatalytic performance of PF/TiO
2 under visible light was evaluated by the degradation of methyl orange. The photocatalytic activity of PF/TiO
2 is greatly higher than that of bare TiO
2. The PF dosage for preparing PF/TiO
2 with the highest visible light photocatalytic activity is 2%, corresponding to a carbonaceous matter content of 1.33% in PF/TiO
2.