Zinc Oxide (ZnO) currently is being used as photocatalyst due to its high photocatalytic activity, low cost and non-toxic. ZnO has great potential to be used as visible light. The band gap of ZnO may be tuned via carbon. In this research, C doped ZnO was synthesized by using microemulsion method. Zinc nitrate, sodium hydroxide, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), cyclohexane, and butanol were used as the precursors for the synthesis of carbon doped ZnO under hydrothermal condition by using an autoclave at 150°C for 1 hour. The solid product was calcined at 300, 400 and 500°C then characterized using UV-vis, FTIR, FESEM and EDX analysis, and XRD. The absorption peaks were obtained to show the present of –OH and –C=O functional groups, respectively. The band gap energy of C doped ZnO was 3.23, 3.22 and 3.21 eV which is correspond to visible light by using diffuse reflectance. In this research, the photocatalysts show hexagonal shape and size of particles about 1.0 to 10µm. The spectrum was confirmed by using EDX analysis. By using XRD pattern, the formation of a single crystal phase Wurtzite structure of ZnO was determined.