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In the present study, an attempt has been made to design a solar light driven N-rGO-ZnO- CoPc(COOH) 8 nanocomposite for the degradation of cyanide. The morphological and structural characterization of the synthesized nanocomposite was performed by XRD, FT-IR, XPS, UV–vis DRS, FESEM, TEM, EDS, PL spectra and BET surface area. The results revealed that almost 91% degradation and 86% toxicity removal occurred at 25 mgL−1 of initial cyanide concentration by the N-rGO-ZnO-CoPc(COOH) 8 nanocomposite under illumination of solar light within 120 min. Analysis of free radicals reveals that the generation of OH. radicals was the predominant species in the photocatalytic degradation process. The cyanide degradation follows pseudo-first order kinetics. The estimated apparent rate constant (K app) of the above nanocomposite was 3 times higher than that of the ZnO photocatalyst alone together with a very good recycle activities. This might be due to the application of metallpthalocyanine photosensitizer CoPc(COOH) 8 which enhances the rate of visible light absorption efficiency and activates the higher band gap ZnO photocatalyst under visible light. In addition, the presence of residual oxygen in N-rGO also promotes nucleation and anchor sites for interfacial contact between ZnO and N-rGO for effective charge transfer. Further, the N-rGO-ZnO-CoPc(COOH) 8 photocatalytic system showed significant antibacterial activities against mixed culture systems. Therefore, the N-rGO-ZnO-CoPc(COOH) 8 nanocomposite may be an alternative solar light driven photocatalyst system for the removal of cyanide from the wastewater along with its strong disinfectant activities. [Display omitted] • A novel N-rGO-ZnO-CoPc(COOH) 8 p-n junction nanocomposite was synthesized. • 3D rectangular nanoplaque CoPc(COOH) 8 photosensitizer enhances visible light absorption. • Cyanide degradation mechanism, kinetics and toxicity removal have been evaluated. • The N-rGO-ZnO-CoPc(COOH) 8 nanocomposite shown a strong antibacterial properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]