Visible-light-driven stannic oxide was synthesized by facile one-pot solvothermal method from SnCl
2
·2H
2
O and methanol. The as-prepared powder was identified by XRD as the low crystalline phase of SnO
2
, and its absorption edge reached about 530 nm, presenting good potential to respond to visible light. Under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm), the as-prepared tin oxide showed good anodic photocurrent effects on FTO photoelectrode, and showed hydrogen and oxygen evolution activities under electron donor (methanol) and acceptor (AgNO
3
), respectively, even without any co-catalyst loading. The visible-light-driven mechanism for this SnO
2-x
maybe ascribed to Sn
2+
self-doped into Sn
4+
and formed an energy gap between the band gap of SnO
2
.