Sunlight-driven photocatalyst Bi38ZnO58 was synthesized by a solid-state reaction method. The synthesized product was characterized physically by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue was evaluated by spectrophotometric analysis; meanwhile, the possible pathway of the photocatalytic reaction also has been studied. In addition, the band edge position of Bi38ZnO58 was roughly calculated according to the electronegativity of the constituent atoms, and the calculation result further confirms the strong oxidative property of the photocatalyst under the sunlight irradiation. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.