Organic pollutants present in water near industrial areas are a major problem for present world. During dye production and textile manufacturing processes, a large quantity of waste water containing dye stuffs with intensive color and toxicity are introduced into the aquatic system. These dyes do not decompose rapidly through natural processes and are resistant to aerobic degradation. It is necessary to find an effective method of waste water treatment in order to remove color from effluents. Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in waste water is the most promising way. In this photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in waste water research, designing a stable, efficient, and broad solar spectra absorber material is the core issue. ZnO nanoparticle is the most investigated semiconductor photocatalyst due to its stability and low cost. However, it has low efficiency as a result of its wide band gap that limits its light absorption in the UV spectrum. In this regard, it was proposed to make a new photo catalytic CuO/ZnO nanostructure with a broader range of light absorption. This research work was focused on the synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic degradation activity of CuO/ZnO nanostructure. A sequential ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method were used for directly growing CuO nanoparticle on ZnO that modifies photocatalytic activity of commercial ZnO nanoparticles. The prepared crystal size, optical property and bond stretching was systematically studied using XRD, UV–Vis and IR spectrophotometer respectively. The photo-catalytic degradation activity of the prepared CuO/ZnO nanostructure was evaluated by investigating photocatalytic removal of model methylene blue dye in waste water as a function of different parameters.