The highly efficient Cu doped TiO2/Yb2O3 (CTYO) photoactive nanocomposite were prepared by simple and straight sol-gel method. The structural, morphological and other properties of the prepared nanocomposite were studied. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the existence of both Yb2O3 and TiO2 phases in crystalline structure of CTYO. UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy confirmed the great potential of the prepared samples as the efficient visible light photocatalyst. The photoactivity of the prepared samples were evaluated using degradation of acid red 88 solution (AR88) under visible light irradiation. The 92.5% of the AR88 in solution was degraded after the 180 min illumination over CTYO photocatalyst. The degradation efficiency was studied under different pH of AR88 solution and amounts of the loaded photocatalyst. The stability and recyclability of the prepared photocatalyst were studied under 8 reaction cycles which revealed the superiority of CTYO as the visible light photocatalyst.Graphical Abstract