With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, water pollution has become a major global challenge. Organic compounds emitted by various industries have become difficult-to-treat pollutants in water bodies. Recent research has shown that semiconductors based on metal oxides (such as TiO2, SnO2, CeO2, ZrO2, WO3, and ZnO) exhibit excellent photo-catalytic effects for decomposing organic pollutants in wastewater. However, their photo-catalytic performance is limited by their own high energy gaps (requiring ultraviolet light activation) and the rapid recombination of photo-generated electron-hole pairs. This article explores strategies to enhance the application performance of these metal oxides in the field of photo-catalysis. Researchers have successfully improved their photo-catalytic activity through doping, preparing nano-composite materials, and constructing core-shell structures of metal oxides. The main purpose of this article is to propose a series of efficient, cost-effective, and industrially viable integrated photo-catalytic solutions.