A novel composite photocatalyst Ag/AgCl/Zn-Cr layered double hydroxides (LDHs) was prepared by a facile anion-exchange precipitation method. It was found that Ag/AgCI particles were uniformly grown on the surface of Zn-Cr LDHs materials on a large scale, and the composite shows well visible-light absorption ability. The photocatalytic degradation studies on Rhodamine B (RhB) indicate that Ag/AgCl/Zn-Cr LDHs composite shows enhanced visible-light photocatalytic abilities for degradation of organic pollutants than Ag/AgCl and Zn-Cr LDHs. The photocatalytic mechanism was analyzed by active species trapping experiments. It revealed that the h(+) and O-2(center dot-) are the two main reactive species for RhB degradation by Ag/AgCl/Zn-Cr LDHs composite, and the proportion of h+ greatly increases compared to that of Ag/AgCl and Zn-Cr LDHs, indicating that an efficient charge separation is crucial for the enhancement of the photocatalytic activities. This work provides an approach to fabricate novel types of visible-light-induced composite photocatalysts for environment treatment. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.