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ZnO semiconductors have been widely used as photocatalysts. However, the weak photodegradation under solar light restrains their further application. In this study, porous zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), which has a high specific surface, was combined with ZnO nanorods to fabricate ZnO@ZIF-8 core–shell heterostructures, with the ZnO nanorods and ZIF-8 as the core and the shell, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy measurements revealed that the ZnO nanorods were wrapped by a ZIF-8 shell. The pore size distribution of these ZnO@ZIF-8 nanocomposites included micropores, mesopores, and macropores. Moreover, a Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis showed an increase compared with the ZnO nanorods in the overall specific surface area. Due to a synergistic effect of ZnO and ZIF-8, the as-synthesized ZnO@ZIF-8 heterostructures exhibited high photocatalytic activity and completely degraded methylene blue in ∼4.5 min under solar light irradiation. Furthermore, stability experiments proved that the as-prepared ZnO@ZIF-8 nanocomposites retain over 95% of their photocatalytic activity after four cycles.