The regeneration of carbonyl compounds from ketoximes on various semiconductor oxides and Ag-doped TiO2 using solar and UV-A light was investigated. The order of activities of the photocatalysts are found to be TiO2 (anatase) > Ag-TiO2 > TiO2-P25 > ZnO (nano) > V2O5 > ZnO > CdS > Fe2O3 > SnO2 > ZnS. The mechanism of photocatalysis is proposed. The deoximation was efficient and almost complete in 30 min with the catalysts TiO2 (anatase), TiO2-P25 and Ag-TiO2 both in UV-A and solar light. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.