Feather-like Cd-doped CuO nanostructures were fabricated by a one-step hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) demonstrated that Cd2+ entered the crystal lattice of CuO and substituted Cu2+ without destroying crystal structures to form feather-like CuO nanostructures. The optical property of Cd-doped CuO was investigated by using UV vis spectrophotometer. A slight blue-shift of optical band gap was observed because of quantum confinement effect. The doped samples exhibited obviously higher absorbance in UV light region and better photocatalytic activity for the photodegradation of methyl blue than the pure CuO nanosheets. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.