Sono- and photochemical reactions were combined in the synthesis of Pd-Fe- and Pt-Fe-doped titaniabased photocatalysts supported on zeolite Y. In the applied procedure, no harmful reducing agents were used. The resulting photocatalysts were characterized using diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), N2 physisorption and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) techniques. The applied methodology leads to the formation of a mainly metallic form of platinum and oxidized forms of palladium and iron, with respect to different reduction potentials of metals. The photocatalytic degradation of phenol under UV light was applied as a test reaction. The photocatalyst containing Pt-Fe showed better results in this reaction in comparison with the Pd-Fe material, mainly because of the presence of the metallic form of platinum. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.