In this work, We synthesized  a novel C, N-doped TiO₂ nanoparticles by sol-gel method. The catalyst was characterized by X-ray powder diffractometer (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The results showed that crystallite size of synthesized C, N-doped TiO₂ particles were in nanoscale. UV light photocatalytic studies were carried out using sodium naphthalene sulfonate formaldehyde (SNF) as pollutant. The effects of initial concentration of surfactant, catalyst amount, pH, addition of oxidant on the reaction rate were ascertained and optimum conditions for maximum degradation was determined. The results indicated that for a solution of 20 mg/L of sodium naphthalene sulfonate formaldehyde, almost 98.7% were removed, in pH around 4.0, 0.44 g/L photocatalyst, 1 mM K₂S₂O₈ irradiated for 90 min. The kinetics process was studied and the photodegradation rate of SNF was found to obey pseudo-first-order kinetics equation represented by the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model.