The invention relates to a ZnO photocatalytic material modified with porous carbon and a preparing method thereof. The ZnO photocatalytic material modified with porous carbon includes zinc oxide nanometer particles and amorphous porous nanometer carbon. The zinc oxide nanometer particles are covered with the amorphous porous nanometer carbon largely or the amorphous porous nanometer carbon is doped in gaps among the zinc oxide nanometer particles largely. The method has characteristics of a simple preparing process, mild reaction conditions, easy control, and the like. The material has a high specific surface area, high CO2 adsorptivity, visible-light response and charge transfer capabilities, effectively overcomes disadvantages which are a small specific surface area, a high photo-induced electron hole pair recombination rate and a low photocatalytic efficiency of a single zinc oxide photocatalyst, greatly increases the solar energy utilization efficiency, and has a wide application prospect in the fields of photocatalysis, electrochemistry, energy, environment, and the like.