<p>In this study, the HC/BiOCl/SnO₂ type I heterostructure was constructed by hydrothermal method for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB). The photoluminescence spectra of HC/BiOCl/SnO₂ showed the lowest fluorescence intensity, indicating the low photoelectron-hole recombination rate of the catalyst. Electrochemical impedance test showed that the arc radius of HC/BiOCl/SnO₂ was obviously smaller than that of other samples, which indicated that the catalyst had strong electron migration ability and high separation efficiency of electron and hole. The degradation efficiencies of RhB and methylene blue (MB) by HC/BiOCl/SnO₂ were 99.49% and 66.46%, after 40&#xa0;min of irradiation with visible light (70 W metal halide lamp). The results showed that the heterostructure had strong photocatalytic degradation ability for dye wastewater. The free radical capture experiments indicated that the main active species were h⁺ and ·O₂⁻. After 4 cycles of HC/BiOCl/SnO₂ photocatalyst, the degradation efficiency of RhB was 83.25%, indicating that the photocatalyst had strong degradation ability and cycle stability. XRD of the catalyst before and after degradation showed that the composition of the catalyst did not change, which proved that the catalyst had good stability.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>