Pollution of aquatic environments by emerging contaminants is a growing global concern. These pollutants tend to be bio-refractory and are usually not eliminated by conventional water treatment techniques. Advanced oxidation processes have the potential to completely degrade and mineralize organic compounds in aqueous media. Among them, heterogeneous photocatalysis has already proved efficient in degrading organic pollutants such as pesticides. However, most employed semiconductors are only active under ultraviolet irradiation and are characterized by a high recombination rate of charge carriers. Thus, there is considerable attention to developing new hybrid photocatalysts that are more efficient and can be activated under visible light irradiation. This can be advantageous in terms of utilizing solar radiation and for large-scale applications. Carbon-based materials, such as graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), graphene and derivatives, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and carbon quantum dots (CQDs), are used as cocatalysts or as support material for these new photocatalysts. This review discusses the synthesis of carbon-based photocatalysts and their application in pesticide degradation in water systems.