Structural and spectroscopic characterizations of boron doped TiO2–CeO2 nanocomposite synthesized by solution combustion technique for photocatalytic applications

•FE-SEM images indicate porous structure along with the nanoparticles distributed in them, which would be very much useful for better photocatalytic activity.•The increased capacity to absorb visible light by these B/TiO2CeO2 nanocomposites make it a promising active photocatalyst in visible light for the treatment of environmental pollutants.•XPS results with the higher intensity Ce3+ peaks (u, v) suggests the possible formation of oxygen vacancies and the decrease in the binding energy of ti 2P3/2 indicates the partial reduction of Ti4+ to low-valence Tix+ species, which would be favorable for the better photocatalytic activity of this B/TiO2CeO2 nanocomposite.