Abstract Silicon-based photonic crystal is a promising material for terahertz (THz) waveguide due to its high refractive index contrast. In this work, we introduce eye-shaped pillars as the feature building blocks for two-dimensional (2D) photonic crystals. The simulation study shows that larger TE mode band gaps (PBGs) can be created by the arrangement of dielectric eye-shaped pillars in air. The reflective spectra demonstrate that there are complex PBGs, where the peak position and intensity can be changed by varying the parameter e. Moreover, the peak of reflective spectra exhibits an obvious blue shift with the increase of incidence angle of light. When the vacant space in the structure is filled by polystyrene (PS) microspheres of 2 孠in diameter, the peak intensity of reflective spectra reduces significantly compared with that without PS microspheres, which suggests that this design can act as a sensor in the fields of biology, agriculture or medicine.