A novel photodegradable thin film of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) composite was prepared by embedding modified TiO2 nanoparticles into the commercial PVC. The photocatalyst nanoparticles were modified with perchlorinated iron (II) phthalocyanine (FePcCl16) to improve their photocatalytic activity. Solid-phase photocatalytic degradation of the PVC-FePcCl16-TiO2 thin film was carried out under ultraviolet (UV) lamp or sunlight irradiation in atmosphere. The properties of composite films were compared with those of pure PVC film and poly(vinyl chloride)-TiO2 (PVC-TiO2) composite films through performing weight loss monitoring, scanning electron microscope and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The results indicated that the degradation efficiency of PVC-FePcCl16-TiO2 composite film was significantly higher than that of pure PVC film and PVC-TiO2 composite film under UV or sunlight irradiation. The photocatalytic degradation mechanism was discussed briefly. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl PolymSci 122: 1823-1828, 2011