BiVO4 nanopowders was synthesized by carbon adsorption coprecipitation method. Its physical and chemical properties were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), specific surface area (BET), ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer (UV-Vis), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and thermogravimetric analyzer (TG-DTG), respectively. The photocatalytic property of prepared samples was investigated using methyl orange (MO) as pollutant and 500 W dysprosium lamp as light source. The results show that BiVO4 powders prepared by carbon adsorption coprecipitation method has the advantages of uniform distribution, smaller particle size and less agglomeration compared with the powders prepared by ordinary precipitation method. Meanwhile, the light absorption wavelength of the powder calcined at 600 ℃ was red-shifted compared with other temperatures, which enhanced the absorption capacity in the visible light range. The photodegradation of methyl orange results show that the degradation rate of BiVO4 powder prepared by carbon adsorption coprecipitation method was 96% within 120 min.