A facile wet chemical method was adopted for preparing highly photoactive nitrogen doped TiO2 (N-TiO2) powders with visible responsive capability, which could be achieved by the hydrolysis of titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) in the ammonium hydroxide precursor solution in various concentrations and then calcined at different temperatures. The N-TiO2 powders were characterized, and the photocatalytic activity was evaluated for the photocatalytic oxidation of ethylene gas under visible light irradiation to optimize the synthesizing conditions of N-TiO2 catalyst. The N-TiO2 photocatalytic powders were calcined in a range of temperatures from 300 to 600°C and obviously found to have greater photocatalytic activities than commercial TiO2 P25. The strong absorption in the visible light region could be ascribed to good crystallization and adapted sinter temperature of as prepared sample. XPS test demonstrated that the N was doped into TiO2 lattice and made an interstitial formation (Ti-O-N), and N doping also retarded the phase transformation from anatase to rutile as well. The N-TiO2 catalyst prepared with 150 mL ammonium hydroxide added and calcined at 500°C showed the best photocatalytic activity. The experimental results also proved the enhanced photoactivity of N-TiO2 material depends on the synthesizing conditions.