In this paper, lanthanum-doped TiO2 nanometer film materials coated on glass were prepared in Ti(OBu)4 precursor solutions by sol-gel processing. Transmittance and photocatalytic activity were respectively investigated and tested for these nanometer thin films prepared with different amount of lanthanum (La), different amount of polyethylene glycol (PEG), and different coating layer times. Some reactive mechanisms were also discussed. For one layer La-addition had little effect on the film transmissivity; but the photocatalytic activity was significantly improved due to La-addition. With increasing PEG, the transmittance of the film decreased for one layer film; but its photocatalytic activity did not rise. Increasing layer number did not affect the transmissivity of multilayer film. After coating two times, increasing layer number did not significantly improve the photocatalytic activity. The highest photocatalytic activity and best transmissivity were obtained for two layer TiO2 film when the dosage of lanthanum was 0.5 g and the dosage of polyethylene was 0.2 g in the precursor solutions. These materials will probably be used in the protection of environment, waste water treatment, and air purification.