Copper oxide nanoparticles were deposited on a presynthesized graphene oxide (GO) by successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction method to form CuO/rGO nanocomposite. The crystal structure, vibrational frequency and optical properties of the synthesized CuO/rGO nanocomposite were studied using x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and ultraviolet/visible (UV/vis) spectrophotometers, respectively. The results obtained using the XRD indicates that the desired CuO phase was synthesized with crystalline size (D) of about 16.3 nano meter (nm). The results obtained using the FTIR spectrum showed peak at ∼446, 506 and 606 cm-1 corresponds to Cu-O vibrational mode in the CuO/rGO nanocomposite. In addition, the formation of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) from GO is shown by reduced intensities of oxygen containing functional groups in rGO. Similarly, The UV-Vis absorption spectra of CuO/rGO possess an enhanced absorption in the visible region ranging from 400 nm to 800 nm, with corresponding band gap of 1.66 eV. The photocatalytic applicability of the synthesized CuO/rGO composite has been evaluated by photocatalytic removal of methylene blue (MB) dye as a function of time. CuO/rGO and CuO nanoparticle shows 97% and 77% degradation of MB solution in 120 min respectively, showing excellent photocatalytic performance of CuO/rGO in comparison with pure CuO. The degradation follows pseudo first order kinetic with rate constant of 0.012 and 0.025 min-1 for CuO and CuO/rGO composite, showing doubled photodegradiation rate of MB dye under CuO/rGO composite. This is due to the fast charge carrier transport and reduced carrier recombination in CuO/rGO composite due to the presence of rGO. KEY words: Copper oxide, reduced graphene oxide, Photocatalysis, Methylene blue, SILAR