A method of recovering titanium dioxide from a titanium oxide bearing raw material, such as e.g. steel slags rich in TiO2 includes the steps of grinding the titanium dioxide raw material, reacting the particulate raw feed material with sulphuric acid under specified conditions, digesting and filtering the resultant cake material containing titanyl sulphate, hydrolysing the titanyl sulphate and, after washing the hydrolysate, calcining the hydrolysate to produce titanium dioxide.