Hydrothermal synthesis of pristine and Sr doped TiO₂ is proposed. The synthesized products were studied for their physiochemical properties. 3% Sr-TiO₂ showed a narrow bandgap, which facilitate an increase in oxygen vacancies. The agglomerated morphology was tuned to a nanoball structure after doping with Sr ions. Surface area was increased for the Sr doped TiO₂. The samples were used to reduce Janus Green B (JG) dye as a model pollutant. The pure TiO₂ showed poor efficiency, while the prepared Sr-TiO₂ photocatalyst showed enhanced efficiency with a corresponding increase in the rate constant values of the samples. Tuning of the bandgap, an improvement in the morphology and an increase in the surface area were the major positives of the Sr doped TiO₂ samples compared to pure TiO₂, 3% Sr-TiO₂ is emerging as the best photocatalyst in reducing toxic pollutants. The 3% Sr-TiO₂ is a promising candidate for water remediation in the future.