In later years, numerous viable photocatalysts have been created to illuminate the issues of natural toxins. In this work, heterostructured photocatalysts Ag<inf>3</inf>VO<inf>4</inf>/g-C<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> were prepared by effortless hydrothermal route to anchor Ag<inf>3</inf>VO<inf>4</inf> on the surface of the g-C<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> nanosheets. The prepared samples were fairly characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDAX), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS), photoluminescence, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was evaluated by degrading malachite green (MG) and 2,4 dimethyl phenol (DMP) in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. Compared with Ag<inf>3</inf>VO<inf>4</inf> and g-C<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf>, the heterojuncted photocatalyst 50 wt% Ag<inf>3</inf>VO<inf>4</inf>/g-C<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> exhibits the best activity such as high-degradation efficiency (99%), high apparent constant (0.0923 min−1) and long-term stability towards DMP under visible light irradiation. The development of a phase scheme heterojunction between Ag<inf>3</inf>VO<inf>4</inf> and g-C<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> improved the photocatalytic efficiency of Ag<inf>3</inf>VO<inf>4</inf>/g-C<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> composites. Furthermore, the porous structure of g-C<inf>3</inf>N<inf>4</inf> and the effect of Ag surface plasmon resonance (SPR) speed up the isolation and transfer of electron–hole pairs, reducing the likelihood of recombination. © 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.