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• ZIF-8/TiO 2 composite nanoparticles were in-situ grown on PDA-templated cotton fabrics for photodegradation of dyes. • ZIF-8/TiO 2 composite nanoparticles were uniformly grown on cotton fabrics and and the role of pDA was proposed. • The fabrics showed visible-light-driven photocatalytic performance in degrading MB solution with stability and reliability. • The possible photocatalytic mechanism of ZIF-8/TiO 2 /pDA/CF was proposed. Excellent photocatalytic activity was achieved on textiles via polydopamine-assisted deposition of Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework-8 (ZIF-8)/TiO 2 composite nanoparticles. Cotton fabrics as the substrate were templated with polydopamine followed by in-situ deposition of ZIF-8/TiO 2 photocatalysts. The heterogeneous nucleation growth of ZIF-8 was effectively improved by the chelation effects between polydopamine and Zn2+. SEM, FTIR, XPS, XRD, and TG analysis were employed to study the morphology, chemical constituent, micro-structure and thermal stability of ZIF-8/TiO 2 deposited fabrics. Photoluminescence (PL) spectra have indicated that the composite structure is beneficial in improving the charge transfer ability and decreasing the re-union rate of photogenerated electron pair holes. The mechanism was proposed to reveal both the in-situ deposition of nanocomposites on fiber surface and photocatalytic activity. The ZIF-8/TiO 2 deposited cotton fabrics exhibit good photocatalytic activity and recyclability leading to potential industrial wastewater treatment applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]