The development of photoactive materials with self-cleaning and depolluting qualities is a hot topic in materials science, given their impact on several technologies, in a wide range of contexts of applications. Anatase phase titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the largest used photocatalyst, with increasing applications ranging from air quality control to renewable energies, to green building materials for zero energy communities. Yet, it is partially transmissive in the near infrared (NIR), which negatively affects the solar reflectance of TiO2 containing materials. In this contribution we describe an unexpected increase in anatase near infrared (NIR) reflectance observed during environmental exposure. We unveil its complex mechanisms, based on the contact with nitric acid generated by NOx photocatalytic degradation, which causes partial reduction and decrease in crystallinity to TiO2. This may open the way for introducing multiple environmentally beneficial effects on TiO2 pollutants degradation, self-cleaning, and energy performance. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.