Photo-degradation of pesticides and other inorganic and organic contaminants has gained tremendous research interest owing to a greener and more straight forward approach. Pesticide-contaminated agricultural aquatic wastes have acute environmental and health effects due to their non-degradability and carcinogenic nature. Highly efficient nanostructured Zinc Oxide (ZnO) and La-doped Zinc Oxide photocatalytic material were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis route. Zn (NO3)2.6H2O and La (NO3)3.6H2O were used as dopant sources of Zn and La in ethanol solvent. Morphological studies and dopants composition were analyzed by SEM–EDX images confirming the presence of La ions in a La-doped ZnO nanostructured hybrid. Structures of pristine ZnO and its dopant material were confirmed by powder XRD. The degradation of 2-chlorophenol (2-CP) was investigated using ZnO and La-doped ZnO photocatalyst at optimum pH, irradiation time, and catalytic dose. Interestingly, a maximum degradation efficiency of 75.85% and 83.92% was attained for ZnO and La-doped ZnO with a catalytic dose of 10 mg and irradiation time of 2 h, at optimum pH of 2, respectively.