Photoelectrochemical water splitting is a promise way to transfer solar energy to hydrogen as chemical energy carrier. In this paper, visible light driven tin oxide based photoelectrodes were obtained through dipping SnCl2 center dot 2H(2)O EtOH solution on FTO or metal Ti substrate and with further heat treatment process. Photoelectrochemical measurements with three electrodes configuration revealed that this obtained photoelectrode showed n-type responsive properties and the photocurrent density reached mA/cm(2) level without any modification under visible light irradiation (lambda > 420 nm). XRD, UV-Vis spectrum and control experimental results proposed that the visible light driven mechanism for the tin oxide based photoanode maybe ascribed to Sn4+/Sn2+ transformation and surface oxygen deficiency, and the tin oxide can be denoted as SnO2-x. Copyright (c) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.