In this paper, ternary and coupled binary zinc tin oxide nanocrystalline powders were prepared via simple solid-state mechanochemical method. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Raman and reflectance spectroscopy were used to study the structure and optical properties of the obtained powder samples. The thermal behavior of zinc tin oxide system was examined through simultaneous thermogravimetric-differential scanning calorimetric analysis. The efficiencies of ternary (Zn2SnO4 and ZnSnO3) and coupled binary (ZnO/SnO2) zinc tin oxide water suspensions in the photocatalytic degradation of alprazolam, short-acting anxiolytic of the benzodiazepine class of psychoactive drugs, under UV irradiation were determined and compared with the efficiency of pure ZnO and SnO2. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.