The reaction atmosphere employed in graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) synthesis can play an important role in modifying the electronic structure and the properties of photoexcited charge carriers and consequently the photocatalytic activity of semiconductor photocatalysts. By controlling the entrance of N-2 in the preparation of g-C3N4, we introduced pyrolysis-generated self-producing atmosphere. Under the homogeneous self-producing atmosphere and without any other additives, we fabricated porous g-C3N4 with more uncondensed amino groups. These formed pores endow g-C3N4 nanosheets with more exposed active edges and cross-plane diffusion channels that greatly speed up mass and charge carrier transfer. Furthermore, the uncondensed amino groups within the structure could promote the dispersion behavior of samples in water and induce the structure distortion of g-C3N4 layers through the strong hydrogen bonding interactions between layers and thus decease the distance of interlayers. Enhanced photocatalytic activity is seen as well from a drastic increase in the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) dye. This work provides a simple and efficient strategy for fabricating porous texture and realizing the tunable structure distortion of g-C3N4 layers to adjust its electronic structure and photocatalysis. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.