Microvariability & Oscillations of STars (MOST) and All Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) observations have been used to characterize photometric variability of TW Hya on time-scales from a fraction of a day to 7.5 weeks and from a few days to 8 yr, respectively. The two data sets have very different uncertainties and temporal coverage properties and cannot be directly combined, nevertheless, they suggest a global variability spectrum with ‘flicker-noise’ properties, that is with amplitudes , over >4 decades in frequency, in the range f= 0.0003–10 c d−1. A 3.7 d period is clearly present in the continuous 11 d, 0.07 d time resolution, observations by MOST in 2007. Brightness extrema coincide with zero-velocity crossings in periodic (3.56 d) radial-velocity variability detected in contemporaneous spectroscopic observations of Setiawan et al. and interpreted as caused by a planet. The 3.56/3.7 d periodicity was entirely absent in the second, 4 times longer MOST run in 2008, casting doubt on the planetary explanation. Instead, a spectrum of unstable single periods within the range of 2–9 d was observed; the tendency of the periods to progressively shorten was well traced using the wavelet analysis. The evolving periodicities and the overall flicker-noise characteristics of the TW Hya variability suggest a combination of several mechanisms, with the dominant ones probably related to the accretion processes from the disc around the star.