The photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide using water as electron donor to produce fuels, frequently known as artificial photosynthesis (AP), has a great interest due to its potential to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions. In this paper, ZnO-based materials have been investigated as photocatalysts for the AP process. Different synthesis approaches have been studied in order to improve the physicochemical properties of ZnO-based materials. The effect of a variety of chemical and morphological modifications has been explored as a way to enhance the photocatalytic properties of this semiconductor: a) N-doping to produce changes in the band structure, b) use of a porogen agent to improve the textural properties, leading to a mesoporous ZnO, and c) Cu deposition and doping to induce a decrease of the electrons-holes recombination rate and also to act as co-catalyst. The best results have been obtained with the Cu addition over the mesoporous ZnO, resulting in an enhancement of the CO2 conversion and leading to the formation of CO, H-2, CH4 and CH3OH as main products. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.