This work attempts to understand the in vitro biocompatibility of ultrafine grained titanium prepared by the ECAP route. The results obtained from the mouse fibroblast cell line 3T3 showed a better cell adherence and cell proliferation on ECAP titanium specimen compared to the coarse grain Grade-2 Ti and Ti6Al4V alloy. This could be attributed to the increased surface energy and grain boundary energy and possibly the presence of a large number of nano-size conical groove-like structures (at triple point junctions of grain boundaries on the surface) in the ECAP Ti specimen compared to the coarse grain Grade-2 Ti and Ti6Al4V alloy. © 2007 IOP Publishing Ltd.