The bentonite-Zn doped CoFe 2 O 4 photocatalysts were successfully synthesized for the first time by decorating magnetic Zn x Co 1À x Fe 2 O 4 nanoparticles onto the bentonite surface in order to enhance the photocatalytic performance of Zn doped CoFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles. We tried to thoroughly investigate how changes in Zn 2 + concentration affected the particle size, shape, magnetic properties, optical band gap, and photocatalytic activities of B-Zn x Co 1À x Fe 2 O 4 nanocomposites. The photodegradation of crystal violet (CV), a model reaction under visible light irradiations, was used to assess the photocatalytic activities of the samples. Compared to other samples, the B-Zn x Co 1À x Fe 2 O 4 (x = 0.5) showed the highest photocatalytic activity, which is best matched to the pseudo-first-order kinetic. According to investigations using reactive species capture, the superoxide radicals have the main role in the degrading process, while the hydroxyl radicals and holes have a secondary and minimal effect, respectively.