The aim of this work was to investigate the mechanical properties of the titanium anodic films (TiO₂) produced by anodic oxidation under galvanostatic conditions, using a 1.4M phosphoric acid electrolyte, with different current densities (J) on commercially pure titanium (cp‐Ti). The morphology of the oxide films were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), whereas the composition of the film was determined by Raman spectroscopy. Porosity, average roughness (Ra) and thickness of the TiO₂ films increased with the applied J. Hardness and elastic modulus were measured by instrumented indentation technique, and the influence of the substrate was corrected using analytical models. The anodic films presented higher hardness and lower elastic modulus values compared with the cp‐Ti. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 2008