Pristine and Cu doped titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles were prepared by chemical hydrolysis technique. Synthesized TiO2 was characterized by XRD technique and it reveals that the samples are of tetragonal structure with anatase phase. The spherical morphology of the nanoparticles was observed from SEM. Optical absorbance and emissions were studied using UV–vis and photoluminescence spectra. The absorbance spectrum revealed the increase of band-gap for higher Cu doping from the un-doped TiO2 leads to enhancing the Voc. J-V measurements reveals that 3% Cu doped TiO2 shows 18% of efficiency enhancement compared to bare TiO2.