Cobalt(II) phthalocyanine-sensitized hollow Fe3O4@SiO2@TiO2 hierarchical nanostructures had been successfully obtained by combination of solvothermal processing and dipping processing. The as-obtained products were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrum (FT-IR), UV-vis diffuse reflectance (DR) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The results revealed that the cobalt(II) phthalocyanine was successfully grown on the primary Fe3O4@SiO2@TiO2 nanostructures (Fe3O4@SiO2@TiO2@CoPcS). The hollow Fe3O4@SiO2@TiO2@CoPcS hierarchical nanostructure showed excellent photocatalytic efficiency for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) under UV-vis and visible light irradiation. More importantly, the photocatalyst could be effectively separated for reuse by simply applying an external magnetic field. A possible mechanism for the visible photocatalysis with the Fe3O4@SiO2@TiO2@CoPcS heterostructures was suggested. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.