The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of ZnO powder partially coated with a nanometric layer of PdO on the treatment of water contaminated with dyes. In this approach, we successfully synthesized PdO coated ZnO, and tested it on the degradation of basic yellow 28 and malachite, under UV-visible irradiation. The prepared samples were characterized by TG-DTA analysis, X-ray diffraction with Rietveld refinement, and scanning electron microscope coupled with EDX analysis. The XRD measurement revealed that all prepared photocatalysts have a hexagonal ZnO structure, the average particle size is about 32 nm. The EDX analysis confirmed palladium presence in the prepared materials with very good dispersion and homogeneity. The results prove that the partial coating with PdO enhances the photocatalytic activity of ZnO, with almost complete degradation of dyes after 2 h of irradiation. The simple and easy product synthesis, and the remarkable properties allow the partial coating with PdO to be considered as a very promising and innovative material to increase the photocatalytic activity.