Commercially available pure metallic titanium was chemically treated at 60 degrees C for 24 h with H2O2 solutions containing various metal chlorides to provide titanium with bioactivity, that is, to give it the ability to form a biologically active bone-like apatite layer on the surface. After the chemical treatment the titanium specimens were soaked in a simulated body fluid (the Kokubo solution). Apatite was found to deposit on the specimens treated with the H2O2/TaCl5 and H2O2/SnCl2 solutions. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) study of the specimens treated with those H2O2 solutions indicated that basic Ti-OH groups in titania hydrogel layers on their surfaces were responsible for apatite nucleation and growth.