It remains a huge challenge to design a kind of high performance, multifunctional and low cost photocatalysts driven by visible light for the remediation of pollutants from waste water. In this work, the carbon coated Tb2O3/Er2O3/TiO2 nanotubes (Tb2O3/Er2O3/TiO2@C) 0D/1D hybrid photocatalysts were synthesized by a microwave hydrothermal method. Essentially, the Er2O3 nanoparticles can absorb low-energy photons at 800–980 nm and emit high-energy photons to TiO2 through the up-conversion effect, meanwhile, the Tb2O3 act as a redox center to promote the separation of photoinduction charges since the instantaneous photoelectric density was increased by 10 times by compared to TiO2@C. As a result, the photodegradation efficiency of the optimized Tb2O3/Er2O3/TiO2@C photocatalysts is about 15.7 times higher than that of TiO2@C under visible light irradiation for decomposing rhodamine B, respectively. Moreover, the photodegradation efficiency remained above 70 % after reused for 5 times. Thus, the enhanced synergistic effect between Er2O3 and Tb2O3 promises the excellent photodegradation activity and reduce cost.It remains a huge challenge to design a kind of high performance, multifunctional and low cost photocatalysts driven by visible light for the remediation of pollutants from waste water. The carbon coated Tb2O3/Er2O3/TiO2 nanotubes (Tb2O3/Er2O3/TiO2@C) 0D/1D hybrids were synthesized by a microwave hydrothermal method. The Er2O3 nanoparticles can absorb low-energy photons at 800–980 nm and emit high-energy photons to TiO2 through the up-conversion effect, meanwhile, the Tb2O3 act as a redox center to promote the separation of photoinduction charges since the instantaneous photoelectric density was increased by 10 times by compared to TiO2@C. As a result, the photodegradation efficiency of the optimized Tb2O3/Er2O3/TiO2@C photocatalysts is about 15.7 times higher than that of TiO2@C under visible light irradiation for decomposing rhodamine B. Moreover, the photodegradation efficiency remained above 70 % after reused for 5 times. Thus, the enhanced synergistic effect between Er2O3 and Tb2O3 promises the excellent photodegradation activity and reduce cost.