A series of visible light active catalysts. V-Gd-O composites, were prepared by the impregnation method. In the photodegradation of acetone, the highest acetone conversion was obtained on V1Gd1Ox catalyst under visible light. The physical and photophysical properties of the composite catalyst have been characterized by XRD, FT-IR, Raman, BET surface area, UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra, and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The characterization indicates the V-Gd-O photocatalyst exhibits three phases: Gd2O3. GdVO4 and V2O5. On the basis of the calculated energy band positions and PL spectra, the high activity of the V-Gd-O catalysts could be attributed to the coupling effect between GdVO4 and V2O5 in retarding the recombination of electron-hole pairs. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.