A one-pot solvothermal approach has been developed for the synthesis of single-crystal anatase TiO2 nanospindles. The introduction of adscititious water in nonaqueous reaction mixture is critical for the spindle formation by allowing for a slow growth rate of TiO2 to facilitate the shape control of TiO2 nanospindles. Arising from the prominent light scattering effect, the fabricated dye sensitized solar cells with the TiO2 nanospindles as light scattering layer show a 27% increment of energy conversion efficiency compared to that of P25 single layer film.