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• NDs/UiO-66-NH 2 was prepared by a two-step route consisting of solvothermal and calcination; • Formation of NDs/UiO-66-NH 2 heterojunction can enhance separation of photo-generated carriers; • NDs/UiO-66-NH 2 exhibits the outstanding photocatalytic degradation activity of antibiotics. Photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics is one of promising strategies to lessen environmental pollution and ecological damage. Pitifully, it is still challenging to achieve satisfactory photocatalytic degradation performance. Herein, nanodiamonds (NDs) coated on the surface of UiO-66-NH 2 octahedrons to form NDs/UiO-66-NH 2 heterojunction photocatalyst via a simple solvothermal method. The synthesized NDs/UiO-66-NH 2 composite photocatalysts possess decent antibiotic degradation performance under visible light irradiation. Among all the composites, 3% NDs/UiO-66-NH 2 composite exhibits the optimal degradation performance, which degraded more than 90% of TC pollutants within 120 min, 8.81 times higher than pristine UiO-66-NH 2. The high photocatalytic performance of NDs/UiO-66-NH 2 heterojunction is mainly attributed to the following three factors: (i) the introduction of NDs effectively increased the light absorption capacity of UiO-66-NH 2 ; (ii) the Construction of heterojunction enhanced the separation efficiency of photogenerated carriers over UiO-66-NH 2 ; (iii) The enriched functional groups of NDs could further promote the adsorption capacity of UiO-66-NH 2. Our work broadens the application of NDs for the construction and synthesis of high-performance and stable semiconductor composite photocatalysts with visible light response in the area of environmental restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]