Selective oxidation is one green technique for routine organics synthesis and environmental remediation. However, the conversion ratio resulted from environment-friendly method employing traditional photocatalytic materials like CdS is relatively low as compared with homogeneous catalytic reaction. Herein, in this paper, a facile method is reported to prepare mixed-phase CdS nanocrystals at room temperature. The as-prepared CdS samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The photocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol into benzaldehyde catalyzed by as-prepared CdS was carried out with high conversion of 68% generated within 60 min using O-2 as a benign oxidant under ambient condition. The enhanced catalytic activity could be attributed to the mixed-phased crystal structure which facilitates the separation of photogenerated charge carriers.