Nitrogen-doped reduced graphene oxide (N-rGO) has been successfully hybridized with ZnO nanorods via sol-vothermal method. The physicochemical properties of the composite are investigated via different techniques. The optical and electrochemical analysis including photocurrent response, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy revealed that ZnO/N-rGO nanocomposite exhibited increased visible-light absorption and improved charge separation leading to the enhanced photocatalytic activities for the degradation of 2,4-di-chlorophenol (2,4-DCP) under visible-light illumination (>= 420 nm). Photocatalytic experimental results indicated that the present nanocomposite photocatalyst showed significantly higher visible-light photocatalytic H-2-evolution activity (13.7 mu mol h(-1)) than the pure ZnO nanorods (3.1 mu mol h(-1)).