Yttrium (Y)-doped BiOBr with different Y doping concentrations has been synthesized via solvothermal method in the presence of reactable ionic liquid 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide([C(16)mim]Br). Their structures, morphologies and optical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). The photocatalytic activities of the yttrium doped BiOBr samples were evaluated by the degradation of ciprofloxacin (CIP) and rhodamine B (RhB) under visible-light irradiation. The yttrium doped BiOBr exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity for the degradation of the two types of pollutants, and the 5wt%Y-doped BiOBr showed the highest photocatalytic activity. The enhanced photocatalytic performance could be attributed to the reduced band gap and improved separation of electron-hole pairs. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.