In the present study commercially pure titanium (CP Ti) samples were oxidized thermally at three different temperatures (500, 650 and 800 °C) for 24 h and evaluation of their morphological and structural characteristics, microhardness and corrosion resistance in Ringer's solution was done. The corrosion protective ability of thermally oxidized materials shows a strong dependence on the nature and thickness of the surface oxide layer. Based on the corrosion protective ability, the untreated and thermally oxidized samples can be ranked as follows: CP Ti (800 °C) > CP Ti (650 °C) > CP Ti (500 °C) > untreated CP Ti. © 2010 Elsevier Inc.