Photocatalysis technology is considered as a most promising method to decompose organic pollutant since the inexhaustible

solar energy and facile reaction condition. Herein, a series of fl ower-like Ag/AgCl/BiOCl photocatalysts are successfully

synthesized via hydrothermal and photochemical deposition method. All the samples are investigated and characterized by

X-Ray diff raction, Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscope, ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy and

Photoluminescence to insight into the microstructures and optical properties. During the photocatalytic degradation of Methyl

orange experiments, the optimized Ag/AgCl/BiOCl sample prepared by photoreduction with 40 min exhibits the excellent

photocatalytic performance. Under visible-light irradiation for 60 min, degradation rate of Methyl orange reaches 97%, which

is 9.7, 6.1 and 4.6 times higher than that of AgCl, Ag/BiOCl and BiOCl, respectively. The UV–vis diff use refl ectance and

Photoluminescence spectra of the Ag/AgCl/BiOCl photocatalyst verify that the enhanced photocatalytic activity is ascribed

to its extended absorption range to visible-light region and the effi cient separation effi ciency of photogenerated carriers. In

addition, the radical trapping experiment demonstrates that photogenerated hole and superoxide radicals play critical roles

in the methyl orange degradation. The corresponding photocatalytic degradation mechanism is proposed that the excellent

photocatalytic activity is attributed to the surface plasmon resonance eff ect of metallic Ag and heterojunction structure of

Ag/AgCl/BiOCl photocatalysts.