Abstract In this study, graphene quantum dots (GQDs) are prepared with an average size of ~15 nm by a top down approach using carbon nanofibers (CNFs) to improve the photovoltaic performance of DSSCs. The titanium isopropoxide (Ti(OPr) 4 )/PVP precursor solution is used to get TiO 2 NFs by electrospinning technique and then they are decorated with the prepared GQDs. First, the prepared GQDs are confirmed by XRD, Raman, TRPL, DLS, UV–vis, and PL Spectroscopy. The presence of GQDs onto TiO 2 NFs is also confirmed by XRD, Raman spectroscopy and EDX studies. The surface morphology and the presence of GQDs onto TiO 2 NFs are confirmed by SEM and TEM analysis. The optical properties of GQDs–TiO 2 NFs are studied by UV–vis and PL spectroscopy. Finally, the dye sensitized solar cell is fabricated using GQDs decorated TiO 2 nanofibers as the photoanode and standard Pt (Dyesol Ltd.) as the counter electrode and 0.5 M 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium iodide, 0.5 M LiI, 0.05 M I 2 , 0.5 M 4-tertbutylpyridine, in acetonitrile as the electrolyte. A dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with a photoanode based on GQDs–TiO 2 NFs exhibited a high energy conversion efficiency of 6.22%, than the DSSC based on pure TiO 2 NFs photoelectrode (4.81%), accompanied by an increment in both short-circuit photocurrent density and open-circuit voltage. The overall improvement in PCE is ~29.31% for GQDs decorated TiO 2 NFs which is higher than other reported systems. The better photogenerated electron transfer ability, reduced charge recombination, increased dye adsorption, and an effective harvesting of visible light, which together added to an improvement in PCE. The stability test is performed for the DSSCs over a period of 30 days (720 h) under one sun soaking, where GQDs decorated TiO 2 NFs DSSCs is seen to retain ~99% of its initial normalized efficiency, thereby making it a viable option for practical applications.