Toxic solvents and chemicals are usually used to prepare carbon nitride. Therefore, a low-toxic template-free method was proposed to prepare gauze-like porous graphitic carbon nitride (CCM18) with high specific surface area. The morphology, crystal and surface structure, specific surface area and optical properties of CCM18 were characterized, and the removal efficiency for tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) degradation under simulated sunlight was evaluated. The results showed that CCM18 has a specific surface area of 107.4 m(2) g(-1), stronger light absorption capacity and a band gap energy of 2.92 eV. The degradation rate of TC by CCM18 was more than twice that of BCN. The experiment of radical scavengers confirmed that superoxide radicals (O-2(-)) and hydroxyl radical (OH) were the major active species. The enhanced performance of CCM18 for TC degradation (82%) and the stability of CCM18 that can be reused multiple times indicated the prospect of industrial application.