We report herein, the synthesis of nanocrystalline CoFe2O4 embedded one-dimensional ZnO hetero-structure prepared by PEG mediated sono-chemical route. It was observed that the one-dimensional hetero-structure has an average diameter of 70 nm with maximum length up to 700 nm and exhibits photolumin escence. Band gap energy of the CoFe2O4-ZnO sample (4.5 eV) was found to be higher than the pure ZnO nanoparticles (3.3 eV). The utility of this one-dimensional CoFe2O4-ZnO hetero-structure was demonstrated for the photocatalytic degradation of phenolphthalein under UV radiation with degradation up to 89% in 1 h. The one-dimensional nanostructure also showed a high saturation magnetization of 42 emu g(-1) with a coercivity of 0.05 T at room temperature which indicates the possibility of recycling of the nanostructure. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.