A synthetic reevesite-like material has been shown to decolorize selected dyes and degrade phenolic contaminants photocatalytically in water when irradiated with visible light. This material can photoactively decolorize dyes such as bromophenol blue, bromocresol green, bromothymol blue, thymol blue and methyl orange in less than 15 min under visible light radiation in the absence of additional oxidizing agents. Conversely, phenolic compounds such as phenol, p-chlorophenol and p-nitrophenol are photocatalytically degraded in approximately 3 h with additional H2O2 when irradiated with visible light. These reactions offer potentially energy effective pathways for the removal of recalcitrant organic waste contaminants. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.