Abstract: Short sulfate process was adopted to produce rutile titanium dioxide pigment by using unenriched industrial TiOSO₄ solution as raw material. The effects of calcination time at high temperature on the crystal structure,particle size distribution and pigment performances of rutile pigment were investigated. The calcined samples were characterized by TG-DSC,XRD,particle size distribution test and pigment properties test. The rutile crystal grain size and rutile content for the pigment gradually increased as the calcination time was prolonged,with a positive linear correlation. Nevertheless,the blue phase index is negative linear correlation with calcination time. The optimized calcination time at high temperature for the production of rutile pigment is of 40 min at 850 ℃,and the as-prepared rutile pigment is with grain size of 170.8 nm,rutile content of 98.2%,suitable and narrow particle size distribution,and the optimal pigment performances.