One-dimensional (1D) SnO2 nanorods (NRs) have been successfully synthesized by means of an efficient interfacial hydrothermal strategy. The resulting product was physically characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscope, etc. The as-fabricated SnO2 NRs exhibited excellent photocatalytic degradation of the methyl orange with high degradation efficiency of 99.3% with only 60 min ultra violet light irradiation. Meanwhile, the 1D SnO2 NRs exhibited intriguing photostability after four recycles. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.