The self-cleaning ability of photocatalytic cement-based materials has the potential to preserve the esthetic appearance of building facades over time thus reducing cleaning costs. In the present work , the joint effect of several factors on the mechanical strength and self-cleaning ability of photocatalytic mortars was studied. For this purpose, four different mortar mixes containing two binder/sand ratios (1:3 and 1:4) were analyzed. Two mixes containing only Portland cement and the other two possessing 50% Portland cement and 50% aerial lime. For each mix, four different compositions were manufactured, each one with a different titanium dioxide-TiO2 content (0%, 2%, 4% and 6%). The results show that w/b increases with TiO2 which, in turn, leads to lower mechanical strength. Results also show that the mixes with 2% TiO2 had the highest self-cleaning effect.