High sulfide conversion and predominant sulfoxide yield has been observed with 0.1% vanadium doped disordered mesoporous Ti1-xVxO2 material at ambient and sub ambient temperatures using environmentally green H2O2 oxidant. Ti1-xVxO2 materials were prepared by one-pot solution combustion method in less than 15 min and thoroughly characterized by X-ray diffraction, HRTEM, Raman spectra and other physicochemical techniques. Different sulfides, such as, phenylsulfide, methyl-p-tolylsulfide, ethylsulfide, thioanisole, were converted into the corresponding sulfoxide. Isolated V5+ incorporated in the TiO2 lattice is likely to be the active species for the sulfide oxidation reaction. Catalyst recycling studies indicates the robustness of the catalyst. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.