This study aims to improve the performance of a UV-C disinfection unit by embedding supported photocatalysts in the system. A fiberglass surface mat (FSM) has been coated with TiO2 nanoparticles using a spray coating (SC) technique in the presence of a colloidal silica binder. The ratio between the coating material volume and the support area varied between 0.075 and 0.300 mL/cm2 while maintaining the mass ratio of TiO2 to SiO2 at 1. The spray-coated composite material was dried at 120°C. The results showed the FSM gained mass between 23.63 and 107.27% after SC. The composite materials lost only 1.43–3.62% of their original mass after the stability test. The composite materials showed high methylene blue (MB) removal between 59.25 and 78.86% after 30 min. The study was expanded using tungsten-loaded TiO2 with different tungsten loadings. The results show the FSM composite containing both low-tungsten and high-tungsten-loaded TiO2 is the most promising. Hence, it was tested using a commercial UV-C flow reactor. Simulated water spiked with a binary mixture of MB and methyl orange (MO) and Escherichia coli culture was used as a feed. The MB was readily decolorized at 20% removal, while the MO was not affected at a 5-min residence time at both high and low dye loadings. The E. coli was not detected after passing through the reactor. This study shows embedding photocatalytic fiber in the UV-C disinfection unit improves the performance of the unit, it decolorizes the dye without altering the disinfection of E. coli.Graphical Abstract: