Laser induced photo-catalytic process was applied for catalytic activity comparison of four semiconductor catalysts for phenol degradation in water using pulsed laser at 355 nm for the first time. For comparative study, important parameters such as percentage of phenol degradation, pH of the solution, photonic efficiency and reaction rates were investigated. The maximum degradation was achieved using WO3 catalyst. The degradation process obeyed first-order kinetics. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.