The advantage of doping of TiO2 with copper has been utilized for enhanced degradation of pesticide under visible light irradiation. The sol-gel method has been undertaken for the synthesis of copper-doped TiO 2 by varying the dopant loadings from 0.25 wt.% to 1.0 wt.% of Cu2+. The doped samples were characterized by UV-Visible Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS), N2 adsorption-desorption (BET), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS). The photocatalytic activity of the catalyst was tested by degradation of dichlorvos under visible light illumination. The results found that 0.75 wt.% of Cu2+ doped nanocatalysts have better photo catalytic activity than the rest of percentages doped, undoped TiO2 and Degussa P25. The reduction of band gap was estimated and the influence of the process parameters on photo catalytic activity of the catalyst has been explained. © 2012 World Scientific Publishing Company.