The present invention relates to a preparation method for a carbon nanotube-nano-bismuth vanadate composite photocatalyst. The method comprises: (1) adding a bismuth salt and a stabilizing agent to a phosphate buffer solution, stirring to form a suspension, dissolving metavanadate in the phosphate buffer solution, adding to the suspension, and stirring to form a transparent solution; (2) adopting an alkaline solution to adjust the pH value of the transparent solution to 6.0-8.0, adding carbon nanotubes while maintaining a temperature to 40-100 DEG C, stirring until uniformly mixing, centrifugating, filtering, washing, placing into a muffle furnace to carry out baking, and finally cooling and grinding to obtain the finished product. The preparation method of the present invention has characteristics of simpleness, easy performance, low requirements on equipment, and good operability. The prepared carbon nanotube powder bismuth vanadate is uniformly distributed, the persistent toxic substances can be efficiently degraded under the ultraviolet light condition and the visible light condition with the prepared carbon nanotube powder bismuth vanadate, the prepared carbon nanotube powder bismuth vanadate is convenient to use, and can be recovered and regenerated.