In this work, a facile method was developed to improve the photocatalytic efficiency of bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl) with the dominant {001} facets and cobalt oxide (CO3O4) through creating a heterojunction between them. The heterostructured CO3O4/BiOCl photocatalyst with different amounts of CO3O4 (0, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, and 1.6 wt%) was successfully synthesized by a simple chemical co-precipitation method. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-vis spectroscopy (UV-vis), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). Due to the formation of the heterojunction, which grows along the 10011 crystallographic direction of BiOCl, the effectual separation of electron-hole pairs results in the enhanced photocatalytic activity of the CO3O4/BiOCl system. The 0.8 wt% CO3O4/BiOCl exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity as compared with other samples (0, 0.4, 1.2, and 1.6 wt% CO3O4/BiOCl) because of the enhanced flow of charge carriers through the heterojunction, and light absorbance. The photodegradation mechanisms of Rhodamine B (RhB) and methyl orange (MO) over the heterostructured CO3O4/BiOCl photocatalyst under visible light was also studied, and the enhanced photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the improved separation of photo-induced electron-hole pairs by creating the heterojunction along the [001] crystallographic direction. According to the results obtained from the recyclability experiments, the heterostructured CO3O4/BiOCl photocatalyst could be easily recycled without decreasing photocatalytic activity due to its high photostability. (c) 2014 Elsevier ay. All rights reserved.