The present work focused on the assessment of heterogenous photocatalytic efficacy of ZnO@CS-beta-CD towards the degradation of hexavalent chromium under visible light illumination. The prepared ZnO@CS-beta-CD was extensively characterized using XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDX with mapping, TGA, DSC and UV/vis DRS techniques and the photoreduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The DRS results revealed that the band gap of ZnO@CS-beta-CD was narrowed than ZnO from 3.23 to 2.01 eV. The photocatalyst hold excellent reusability up to seven cycles and the field trail results demonstrated for the practical application for the treatment of wastewater. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.