X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra of sputter-etched nc-TiC/a-C nanocomposite thin films published in literature show an extra feature of unknown origin in the C1s region. This feature is situated between the contributions of carbide and the carbon matrix. We have used high kinetic energy XPS (HIKE-XPS) on magnetron-sputtered nc-TiC/a-C thin films to show that this feature represents a third chemical environment in the nanocomposites, besides the carbide and the amorphous carbon. Our results show that component is present in as-deposited samples, and that the intensity is strongly enhanced by Ar+-ion etching. This third chemical environment may be due to interface or disorder effects. The implications of these observations on the XPS analysis of nanocomposites are discussed in the light of overlap problems for ternary carbon based systems. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.