The conversion of the toxic As(III) from drinking water is a challenging task and it becomes more difficult when As(III) is present in low concentrations (50–200 ppb). Considering this, the present article demonstrates an easy and cost effective wet chemical synthesis of MnO2−TiO2 nanoheterostructures (NHs) and its application as the electrode for the oxidation and subsequent conversion of the comparatively low concentration of As(III) from drinking water. The MnO2−TiO2 NHs have been employed as the anode to enhance the hole mediated fast and effective oxidation and subsequent conversion of As(III) from water under the applied bias of 1 V vs. Ag/AgCl at room temperature (30 °C) with the water pH ∼7 in a three-electrode electrochemical cell. The nano-interfacial electronic band engineering at MnO2-TiO2 heterointerface is found to be very effective to boost the hole mediated oxidation of As(III). The same NHs also exhibit enhanced photo-electrochemical oxidation of As(III) under the illumination of low-intensity white light. The photo-oxidation in assistance with the applied bias has considerably improved the overall conversion efficiency of As(III) to As(V) in water with a treatment time of just five minutes. The study shows that the material and the method described here is an easy and effective strategy for the enhanced preoxidation and subsequent elimination of As(III) from the drinking water with a low arsenic concentration in the typical weather of Indian subcontinent. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim