The oxide semiconductor with different band gap energy i.e. manganese dioxide (MnO2) (Eg: 1.30eV) and zinc oxide (ZnO) (Eg: 3.37 eV) nanoparticles were used to degrade RhodamineB (RhB) under irradiation of UV light (254 nm).The MnO2nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal method (160 °C, 4 h) using analytical grade manganese sulfate hydrate and potassium permanganate (VII) as precursors. The XRD analysis reveals that the nanoparticles were d-MnO2.The photocatalytic study shows that degradation of RhB solution by ZnO nanoparticles (rate constant: 0.02749 min-1) was approximately four times faster than the d-MnO2nanoparticles (rate constant:0.0067 min-1). This observation could be attributed to the higher reducing and oxidizing power of ZnO in producing free radicals for photodegradation of RhB solution.