Cerium-doped copper aluminate (CuAl2- xCexO4, x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05) photo-catalysts were synthesized by combustion route with an aim to improve the photocatalytic activity of copper aluminate under visible-light. The synthesized compounds were analyzed by standard analytical instruments such as powder XRD, FT-IR, UV-DRS, SEM-EDAX, and HR-TEM. XRD results explained that rising cerium ion concentration from 0 to 0.03, increase the lattice parameter and decreases the average crystalline size. The band gap energy of copper aluminate (1.81 eV) was reduced to 1.43 eV by introducing the cerium ion. The photodegradation performance of the synthesized compounds was recorded by studying the degradation of organic pollutants such as Rhodamine B and Methylene blue dyes under visible light. Cerium doped copper aluminate (x = 0.03) nanoparticles shows 98% degradation of RhB and 96% degradation of MB after 180 and 90 min than the doped (x = 0.01, 0.05) and undoped copper aluminate (x = 0) nanoparticles, respectively. The reactive species h+ and ·O2 ‒ plays the most important role in the photocatalytic degradation. The photodegradation of colorless pollutant Bisphenol A was carried out under UV-light. Among the series of synthesized compounds, CuAl1.97Ce0.03O4 nanoparticles were found to be the more active photo-catalyst for the degradation of Rhodamine B and Methylene blue. © 2018 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers