Silver bromide is widely used in photographic film which is prepared by the emulsion method using gelatin, and it is also known that the gelation assists the formation of AgBr with various shapes and sizes. In order to investigate the photocatalytic activity as one of the applications of AgBr, the preparation of shape-controlled AgBr was carried out. It is found that the emulsion method controlled by varying the concentration of gelatin and Br/Ag molar ratios was effective to improve AgBr photocatalytic activity. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.