The preparation of highly efficient visible-light-driven photocatalyst for the photodegradation of organic pollutants has received much attention due to the increasing global energy crises and environmental pollution. In this study, carnation-like ZnO@Agl hierarchical nanostructures assembled by AgI nanoparticles-decorated ZnO nanosheets were successfully prepared via a room-temperature route. The as-prepared ZnO@AgI nanostructures exhibited highly efficient photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation (lambda > 400 nm). Under optimized AgI content, the ZnO@AgI-5% sample showed high photocatalytic activity, which was 25.7 and 1.5 times the activity of pure ZnO and pure AgI, respectively. Mechanism studies indicated that superoxide anion radicals (center dot O-2(-)) was the main reactive species in the photocatalytic process. The high photocatalytic activity of the ZnO@Agl nanostructures is attributed to the highly active AgI nanoparticles and the heterojunction between AgI nanoparticles and ZnO nanosheets. The heterojunction structure reduced the recombination of the photogenerated electron-hole pairs in the conduction band (CB) and valence band (VB) of AgI nanoparticles by transferring the electrons from the CB of AgI nanoparticles to the CB of ZnO nanosheets. The composite of ZnO and AgI not only improves photo catalytic efficiency but also reduces photocatalyst cost, which is beneficial for practical application. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.