PbMoO 4 and SrMoO 4 particles were successfully prepared via a simple solvothermal process. The obtained samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area analysis, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and a photoluminescence technique with terephthalic acid. The as-prepared PbMoO 4 samples show different photocatalytic activities for salicylic acid under UV light irradiation. PbMoO 4 exhibits relatively high photocatalytic activity for salicylic acid, Rhodamine B and benzene. While, SrMoO 4 possessing a similar structure to PbMoO 4 shows negligible photocatalytic activity though they exhibit similar BET surface areas and morphologies. Theoretical calculations reveal that PbMoO 4 contains higher dispersive valence and conduction bands than SrMoO 4 . The highly dispersive valence and conduction bands can lead to higher mobility of the photo-generated carries and therefore a better photocatalytic activity.