In this article, we employed nitrogen gas treatment as an effective strategy in caclination to significantly improve the performance of hierarchical macro-/mesoprous TiO2 as anode materials for lithium ion batteries at an elevated temperature of 55°C. Room-temperature synthesized macro-/mesoprous TiO2 was calcined under nitrogen and air conditions at 300°C for 3h, respectively. The specific surface area was studied by nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurement and the surface chemistry was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It was found that the macro-/mesoprous TiO2 had a specific surface area of 330m2 g−1 after calcination under nitrogen atmosphere, while only 248m2 g−1 after calcination under air atmosphere. Electrochemical tests showed that, in comparison to air-treated TiO2, nitrogen-treated TiO2 exhibited considerable high capacity and good rate performance as a lithium ion battery anode at the elevated temperature (55°C). It had a capacity of 293mAhg−1 after 50 cycles at mixed current densities of 30, 150, and 500mAg−1, while the air-treated TiO2 only had a capacity of 187mAhg−1 after 50 cycles. This improvement of lithium ion storage capability can be ascribed to the nitrogen-treatment effect on crystallinity and the presence of surface defects on TiO2 nanostructure.