The immobilization of photocatalysts on several kinds of substrates has been widely studied over the past few years, focusing mainly on improving its industrial application. In this work, novel hybrid films were prepared, employing TiO2 P25, commercial ZnO or BiOI, synthetized through hydrothermal method and immobilized on poly(vinylidene fluoride) by the non‐solvent‐induced phase inversion technique. Subsequently, the prepared composites were evaluated by photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) under ultraviolet or visible light. The samples were also characterized by scanning electron microscope, thermo‐gravimetric analysis, attenuated total reflection–Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X‐ray diffractometer analysis to improve comprehension of the composites' photocatalytic behavior. The degradation reaction of the contaminants exhibited pseudo‐first order kinetics in all samples, and achieved better performance when compared to simple photolysis. The recyclability of the hybrid films was also evaluated and proved that polymeric matrix is a promising material for the preparation of composites for photocatalysis applications. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2018, 135, 46367.