In this paper, the nano-p-CuO/n-T-ZnOw composite catalysts were prepared by chemical deposition method, and the effects of polyethylene glycol-600 (PEG-600) concentration in the synthesis system on the phase, microstructure and photocatalytic activity of samples were discussed. The results show that PEG-600 plays an important role in the deposition of CuO nanoparticles on the surface of T-ZnOw in the synthesis system, with the increase of PEG-600 concentration, the denser p-CuO nanoparticles deposited on the surface of n-T-ZnOw. All the compounds exhibit excellent photocatalytic activity in decomposing of methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) under UV light than that of T-ZnOw, the photocatalytic activity of the samples increase with the increasing of PEG-600 concentration up to 0.6 mol/L, while it decreases when further increasing the PEG-600 concentration. This study is expected to provide a reference for the facile and low-cost preparation of high-performance of nano-p-CuO/n-T-ZnOw composite catalysts.