Floating photocatalysts of boron-nitrogen codoped TiO2 grafted on expanded perlite (B-N-TiO2/EP) were prepared by a facile sol-gel method. The catalysts were characterized by N-2 adsorption-desorption (BET), scanning electron microscope (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-vis-DRS). The results revealed that the physicochemical properties of the photocatalysts, such as BET surface area, porosity and pore size could be controlled by adjusting the calcination temperature and EP dosage. XRD patterns were mainly influenced by calcination temperature and the transformation of anatase to rutile occurred at 650 degrees C. Uniform TiO2 loading, higher surface area and absorption in visible light region were obtained for B-N-TiO2/EP calcined at 550 degrees C with 3.0 g EP addition. Moreover, photocatalytic activity for RhB destruction under visible light irradiation was slightly influenced by TiO2 loading in the range of 1-3 g EP dosage. BNTEP550 showed the highest photocatalytic activity indicating to be a promising photocatalyst employed to remediate contaminated waters using solar irradiation. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.