BiOI flowerlike hierarchical structure was synthesized by the direct hydrolysis method - hydrolysis at room temperature in the presence of polyvinyl pyrrolidone. As-synthesized BiOI was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectra, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. It is a facile way to obtain BiOI flowerlike hierarchical structure photocatalyst for photocatalytic reduction of CO2 into hydrocarbon fuels under simulated sunlight irradiation without cocatalyst. And the photocatalytic activity of as-synthesized BiOI is higher than that of P25 TiO2 and bulk BiOI. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.