Silver carbonate (Ag2CO3) short rods were prepared using a precipitation method. It was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), diffuse reflective spectra (DRS) and photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants and destruction of E. coli measurements. The results of DRS suggested that the optical transition of Ag2CO3 was indirectly allowed, and its band gap was determined to be 2.08 eV. The prepared Ag2CO3 displayed a high activity towards degradation of phenol and MB under visible light. The total organic carbon (TOC) value decreased during the photocatalytic process, which suggests that phenol was truly photodegraded. The stability of Ag2CO3 was greatly improved when Na2CO3 was added into the photocatalytic system. In addition, Ag2CO3 displayed enhanced photocatalytic activities for the destruction of E. coli due to its photogenerated electron-hole pairs. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.