Oxygen-containing organics have high potentials in the synthesis of functionalized organics, and their direct generation from alcohols and alkanes by photocatalytic processes under mild conditions has aroused tremendous interest. In the past decades, much progress has been made especially in the area of heterogeneous photo catalysis under visible light irradiation. In this article, we focus on the selective oxidation of alcohols and hydrocarbons into useful oxygen-containing organics, highlighting the recent advances. Despite the achievements, scale-up production of target oxygen-containing organics is not realized due to low catalytic efficiency. The efficacy of a photocatalyst is greatly dependent on its nature, and a slight change of physicochemical properties could result in significant deviation of photocatalytic activity. For better catalyst design, the related mechanistic aspects have to be understood thoroughly. Furthermore, factors such as reactor design and reaction conditions (e.g. light region and intensity, solvent, oxidant) are critical for optimization of performance. To realize practical application in organic synthesis, it is essential to clarify the underlying mechanism. Once the parameters for optimal performance have been determined, the design of an efficient photocatalytic reactor could be properly considered.