Monoclinic structured spindly bismuth vanadate microtubes were fabricated on a large scale by a simple ionothermal treatment in the environment-friendly green solvent of urea/choline chloride. The as-prepared samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, IR and their photocatalytic activity was evaluated by photocatalytic decolorization of rhodamine B aqueous solution under visible-light irradiation. As-obtained BiVO4 microtubes exhibit the spindly shape with a side length of ca. 800 nm and a wall thickness of ca. 100 nm. The opening of these microtubes presents a saw-toothed structure, which is seldom in other tube-shaped materials. The formation mechanism of the spindly microtubes is ascribed to the complex cooperation of the reaction-crystallization process controlled by BiOCl and the nucleation-growth process of nanosheets induced by solvent molecules attached on the surface of microtubes. Such spindly microtubes exhibit much higher visible-light photocatalytic activity than that of bulk BiVO4 prepared by solid-state reaction, possibly resulting from their large surface area and improved crystallinity. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.