A novel visible-light-activated Fe 2 O 3 /SnO 2 nanocomposite photocatalyst was prepared by co-precipitation method, and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N 2 adsorption–desorption measurement and UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The characterization results found that the phase composition, crystallite size, BET surface area and optical absorption of the samples varied significantly with the heat-treatment temperatures. The Fe 2 O 3 /SnO 2 photocatalyst (the molar ratio of Fe to Sn is 2:1) calcined at 400 °C for 3 h exhibited maximum photocatalytic activity because it has a smaller particle size of 15 nm and a higher surface area of 28.75 m 2 g −1 . Under visible-light (λ>400 nm) irradiation, the degradation rate of acid blue 62 reached 98.0% in 60min, which is about 3.6 times higher than that of the standard P25 photocatalyst.