BACKGROUND: Pharmaceutically active compounds, emerging extensively in ecosystems as pollutants, have become an important environmental and public health issue, since they can contaminate drinking water and pose threats to wildlife and human health. As a result, efforts should be made to develop methods to inactivate or eliminate this class of substance in the environment. RESULTS: The photocatalytic degradation of psychoactive drug Fluvoxamine has been investigated. In the case of heterogeneous photocatalytic oxidation, the effect of TiO2 P25 concentration (0.1-1 g L-1), initial concentration of H2O2 (0.25-0.2 g L-1) and Fe3+ (0.00175-0.014 g L-1) and pH of the solution on initial reaction rates were evaluated, while for homogeneous photocatalytic oxidation the effect of the amount of H2O2 (0.25-0.2 g L-1) and Fe3+ (0.00175-0.014 g L-1) were investigated. In addition, the conversion of the heteroatoms in the FVX molecule to inorganic ions (NO3-, NH4+, F-) during the photocatalytic process has been observed and phytotoxicity testing, using three plant species, was carried out in order to examine the effect of photocatalytic oxidation on the toxicity of FVX. CONCLUSION: According to the results presented in this study, both heterogeneous and homogeneous photocatalytic oxidation is an efficient methodology for FVX degradation. (C) 2017 Society of Chemical Industry