An effective active heterostructured photocatalyst of porous SnO2-pillared tetratitanate nanocomposite is synthesized by assembling tetratitanate nanosheets with SnO2 nanoparticles via an exfoliation-restacking route. The nanocomposite was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscope, thermogravimetric analysis, UV-vis DRS, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and N-2 adsorption-desorption measurements. It was found that the pillared nanaocomposite is mesoporous with a gallery height of about 2 nm and a specific surface area of 154 m(2)/g. The pillared nanaocomposite exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity in the photodegradation of Rhodamine B under UV light irradiation. The improved performance is attributed to the electronic coupling between the host and the guest components, as well as its high surface area and mesoporosity. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.