An environmental friendly composite photocatalyst with efficient UV and visible light activity has been synthesized by introducing BiOCI-TiO2 hybrid oxide onto the surface of attapulgite (AU) (denoted as ATT-BiOCl-TiO2), using a simple in situ depositing technique. The obtained products were characterized by XRD, TEM, BET and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra measurements. Results showed that BiOCl-TiO2 composite particles were successfully loaded onto attapulgite fibers' surface without obvious aggregation. The photocatalytic activity of ATT-BiOCl-TiO2 was investigated by degradation of methyl orange under UV and visible light irradiation. It was found that 100 mg L-1 methyl orange was totally decomposed under UV light within 70 min and 92.57% of 10 mg L-1 methyl orange was decomposed under visible light within 120 min using ATT-BiOCl-TiO2 as photocatalyst. These results were quite better than that of P-25, especially under visible light irradiation. Possible mechanism for the enhancement was proposed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.