Ultrathin manganese dioxide (MnO2) nanosheets have been synthesized in aqueous solution by a facile one-step method. MnO2 nanosheets show a typical 2D lamellar morphology, possessing an average lateral dimension of 100-300 nm, and a typical thickness of 3.1-7.5 nm, corresponding to 4-10 layers of delta-MnO2. The resultant MnO2 nanosheets have been demonstrated to possess superior oxidative degradation ability to Rhodamine B (RhB) by investigating the decomposition rate and comparing the results with the commercial MnO2 powder. Typically, ultrathin MnO2 nanosheets have shown a high oxidation degradation performance of RhB solution (97.9% removed within 30 min) in acid solution (pH 2.0), which can be attributed to special lamellar morphology and the large surface area of the layered MnO2 nanosheets. It is believed that such a convenient approach for the cost-effective and environmentally friendly synthesis of ultrathin MnO2 nanosheets holds great promise for the degradation of complex and various dye wastewater in practical application. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.