The photoreductive degradation of carbon tetrachloride (CT) in natural sphalerite ((Zn, Fe)S mineral) suspensions irradiated by visible light (VL) is studied in this paper. 92% of CT is degraded in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) organic solvent system after 8 h of VL irradiation. The effects of light source, sphalerite dosage, electron donors, dissolved oxygen and CT initial concentration on CT photocatalytic degradation efficiency are discussed. The degradation products are analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the photocatalytic degradation mechanism is then proposed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.