In this work, the synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles was made using an eco-friendly methodology with a natural extract. The fruit of tejocote (Crataegus mexicana) was used as a stabilizing agent for synthesizing zinc oxide nanoparticles (NPs). Once the NPs were obtained, diverse characterization techniques were used to determine the physicochemical and optical properties of the ZnO NPs; the ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy was used to determine the uv absorption spectra of ZnO NPs and the bandgap of the material, the FT-IR spectrum of the ZnO NPs shows the presence of the Zn–O bond at 560 cm−1, XRD results show that the ZnO NPs exhibit a hexagonal crystal structure zincite type, the SEM confirms slight agglomerations between nanoparticles, Also from TEM results, the nanoparticles present a quasi-spherical morphology with sizes ranging from 18.25 nm to 36.88 nm, indicating an influence of the concentration of the Crataegus mexicana extract in the synthesis process of ZnO NPs. Photoluminescence spectroscopy of ZnO NPs shows strong emission bands in the visible spectrum around 425 nm, 467 nm, and 492 nm, and weak emission bands in the UV spectrum were observed. Finally, a photocatalytic study was realized for the photodegradation of 5 pollutant dyes: methylene blue (MB), malachite green (MG), congo red (CR), rhodamine b (RB), and methyl orange (MO). The results show degradation of the organic dyes after 180 min by a photodegradation process where ZnO nanoparticles act as a photocatalyst, indicating that the synthesized ZnO nanoparticles have excellent photocatalytic properties.