Highly aligned and long 1D anatase TiO2 nanostructures, including unidirectional nanofibers, nanowires in micro-tubes (NW@MT), smooth and porous tubes, were fabricated using a sol-gel process combined with a non-electrospinning Spinneret based Tunable Engineered Parameters (STEP) technique. The novel surface morphologies and cross-sectional profiles can be directly controlled through selectively tuning the synthesis parameters. When used as a photocatalyst for the degradation of methylene blue, the porous TiO2 tubes demonstrate a higher efficiency compared to the other TiO2 nanostructures. The newly developed technique and the resulting novel morphologies will inspire the design and fabrication of other similar materials for energy and biomedical applications.