ZnO/BaTiO3 nanofiber heterostructures with highly uniformly dispersed ZnO nanoparticles grown on primary BaTiO3 nanofibers have been obtained by the combination of an electrospinning and a hydrothermal process. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the ZnO/BaTiO3 nanofiber heterostructures. Furthermore, their UV-induced catalytic activities were studied by a degradation reaction of methyl orange (MO) dye. Compared with pure ZnO powders, ZnO/BaTiO3 nanofiber heterostructures showed better performance of the photocatalytic property, which was ascribed to the synergistic effects of photogenerated electron and hole pair separation and high specific surface area. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.