Holographic recording characteristics of the hydrophilic TiO2-nanoparticle-dispersed polyvinyl alcohol/acrylamide-based thick photopolymer are studied. The experimental results show that not only the volume shrinkage during the holographic exposure can be suppressed by the inclusion of the nanoparticles, but also the diffraction efficiency and other performance parameters can be improved in the hydrophilic TiO2-nanoparticles dispersed photopolymer compared with those traditional samples. There exists an optimum concentration of TiO2-nanoperticals, in which the maximum diffraction efficiency can reach 92.3%, the maximum refractive index modulation arrives at 2.09×10-3, and the volume shrinkage reduces to 0.80%.