In this paper, a novel kind of photodegradable PVC-FePcCl16 composite film was prepared by homogeneous embedding FePcCl16 into the commercial PVC plastic. The photodegradation performance of as-prepared film has been investigated in the ambient air under UV light irradiation by means of weight loss monitoring, FT-IR spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy. In comparison with the pure PVC film, higher weight loss rate, increasing carbonyl peak intensity and accelerating dehydrochlorination were observed. These results indicate that the PVC-FePcCl16 composite film has a higher photodegradation activity owing to the FePcCl16. Moreover, FePcCl16 has good photostability in the photoreaction. The possible photodegradation mechanism of PVC-FePcCl16 composite film was also discussed. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.