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Photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) into valuable hydrocarbon such as methane (CH 4 ) using water as reducing agent is a good strategy for environment and energy applications. In this study, a facile and simple sol-gel method was employed for the synthesis of metal (Cu and Ag) loaded nanosized N/TiO 2 photocatalyst. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, BET Surface area analyzer, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV–vis diffuses reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic conversion of CO 2 into methane was carried out under visible light irradiation (λ≥420 nm) by prepared photocatalysts in order to evaluate the photocatalytic efficiency. The results demonstrate that Ag loaded N/TiO 2 showed enhanced photocatalytic performance for methane production from CO 2 compared to other Cu–N/TiO 2 , N/TiO 2 and TiO 2 photocatalysts. The improvement in the photocatalytic activity could be attributed to high specific surface area, extended visible light absorption and suppressed recombination of electron – hole pair due to synergistic effects of silver and nitrogen in the Ag–N/TiO 2 photocatalyst. This study demonstrates that Ag–N/TiO 2 is a promising photocatalytic material for photocatalytic reduction of CO 2 into hydrocarbons under visible light irradiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]