A novel nanocomposite coating containing titania, silica and lanthanum phosphate prepared through an all aqueous sol–gel route exhibits excellent self-cleaning ability arising from the synergistic effect of the constituents in the nanocomposite. A highly stable titania–silica–lanthanum phosphate nanocomposite sol having particle size in the range of 30–50 nm has been synthesized starting from a titanyl sulphate precursor, which was further used for the development of photocatalytically active composite coatings on glass. The coatings prepared by the dip coating technique as well as the nanocomposite powders are heat treated and characterized further for their morphology and multifunctionality. The nanocomposite containing 1.5 wt% LaPO₄ has shown a surface area as high as 138 m² g⁻¹ and a methylene blue degradation efficiency of 94% in two hours of UV exposure. The composite coating has shown very good homogeneity evidenced by transparency as high as 99.5% and low wetting behaviour. The present novel approach for energy conserving, aqueous derived, self-cleaning coatings may be suitable for large scale industrial applications.