A convenient, nontoxic and efficient way is developed for the fabrication of three-dimensional freestanding graphene foam modified with ZnO nanorods arrays. The resulting composite foam (ZnO/rGO foam) has a hierarchical micro-nano structure. The conductive macroporous structure will enhance the light harvesting, the photoinduced electron-hole separation and electrons transport. Moreover, the ZnO nanorods on the graphene surface will act as the active material which show the dramatic improvement in photocurrent generation and photocatalytic activity. This simple and scalable manufacturing technology will open a reasonable design and engineering route for the high-performance photoelectric conversion apparatus and environmental pollutant management. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.