The present study is an attempt to develop a zinc oxide (ZnO) decorated titania (TiO₂) nanostructured layer over Ti metal by a simple chemical and thermal treatment method. Ti metal upon sequential chemical treatment with sodium hydroxide and zinc nitrate solution generated a nanostructured network layer enfolded with Zn²⁺ ions. Subsequent heat treatment up to 500 °C favoured the formation of ZnO and anatase TiO₂ while increasing the temperature to 600 °C resulted in the formation of ZnO and ZnTiO₃ along with anatase TiO₂. This nanostructured layer showed significant improvement in the hardness after heat treatment at 600 °C as measured by the nano-indentation technique. ZnO formed over the anatase TiO₂ layer showed excellent antibacterial activity against both gram positive Staphylococcus aureus and gram negative Escherichia coli and was also found to be non-toxic towards MG-63 osteosarcoma cells. Hence, ZnO/ZnTiO₃ modified anatase TiO₂ over Ti metal is anticipated to reduce the risk of bacterial infection and enhance the proper functionalisation through its metabolic and cellular signalling and can be useful in dental and orthopaedic fields.