In the present work, Ag@AgCl-reinforced cellulose composites with enhanced antibacterial and photocatalytic degradation properties were successfully synthesized via oil bath heating method. During the process, zinc chloride (ZnCl2) solution was used as both Cl- resource to form AgCl and the solvent to dissolve cellulose. The samples were synthesized with different temperatures, times, and concentrations of ZnCl2 solution. The morphology, microstructure and phase of the as-prepared samples were analyzed with X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photocatalytic activity studies and inhibition zone experiments. Results showed that dye solution could be completely degraded by the materials in 1 h, and higher concentrations of ZnCl2 solution favored for larger inhibition zones (higher to 10.8 mm). This synthetic strategy displayed here offers more possibilities to high value-added applications of cellulose.