Water is the cornerstone of all life. With cascading warnings of water shortages, treating wastewater to achieve the purity required for various applications ranging from irrigation of crops to its use in drinking water is critical. Both carbon dots and MOFs have attracted intense interest, and many investigations have been raised, especially concerning their function as photocatalysts. The carbon dots show great advantages: biocompatibility, ease of conducting chemical reactions to change the nature of their surface, good colloidal stability, and low cost. These good qualities give both carbon dots and organic metal frames great potential to replace the traditional catalysts currently used in treating water from organic dyes. The applications of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which contain photo-active sites, especially ZIF-8, in the field of photocatalysis to remove dyes as water pollutants, have been discussed. The MOFs materials prepared by bonding metal ions with the organic ligands showed superior photoactivity properties to their individual counters. This article summarizes the progress made in preparing carbon dots and summarizing the synthesis methods and emission mechanisms. We envision that the carbon dots will ultimately have significant commercial use and become a strong competitor to some fluorescent materials currently used to treat wastewater. This review provides insights into both basic research and practical applications of carbon dots.