Bi1-xGdxVO4(x=0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9, 1.0) solid oxide solutions were synthesized by a solid state reaction at high temperature and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), BET surface area and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). XRD analysis of the Bi1-xGdxVO4 system showed the existence of two structures. For 0.3≤x≤1.0, the structure was of zircon-tetra nal type while the structure was scheelite-monoclinic when x=0. For 0.1<x<0.3, tetra nal and monoclinic structures were observed. Bi1-xGdxVO4 can split water into hydrogen when loaded with 0.3%(w) Pt. Furthermore, while Bi0.5Gd0.5VO4 was found to act as a photocatalyst for overall water splitting under UV light when loaded with RuO2, Pt/Cr2O3 and Rh/Cr2O3 we found that the photocatalyst loaded with Rh/Cr2O3 had the best photocatalytic property. The amounts of hydrogen and oxygen produced were about 48.22 and 24.13 μmol·h-1 under UV light irradiation, respectively. The photocatalytic activity for water splitting under visible light was also examined. This study indicated that the formation of a solid solution was a feasible method to adjust the conduction band and valence band to obtain a visible-light-driven photocatalyst.