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Only when the interfacial charge separation is enhanced and the CO 2 activation is improved, can the heterojunction nanocomposite photocatalyst be brought into full play for the CO 2 reduction reaction (CO 2 RR). Here, Er 3+ single atom composite photocatalysts were successfully constructed based on both the special role of Er 3+ single atoms and the special advantages of the SrTiO 3 :Er 3+ /g-C 3 N 4 heterojunction in the field of photocatalysis for the first time. As we expected, the SrTiO 3 :Er 3+ /g-C 3 N 4 (22.35 and 16.90 μmol g −1 h −1 for CO and CH 4 ) exhibits about 5 times enhancement in visible-light photocatalytic activity compared to pure g-C 3 N 4 (4.60 and 3.40 μmol g −1 h −1 for CO and CH 4 ). In particular, the photocatalytic performance of SrTiO 3 :Er 3+ /g-C 3 N 4 is more than three times higher than that of SrTiO 3 /g-C 3 N 4 . From Er 3+ fluorescence quenching measurements, photoelectrochemical studies, transient PL studies and DFT calculations, it is verified that a small fraction of surface doping of Er 3+ formed Er single-atoms on SrTiO 3 building an energy transfer bridge between the interface of SrTiO 3 and g-C 3 N 4 , resulting in enhanced interfacial charge separation. Aberration-corrected high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (AC HAADF-STEM) and adsorption energy calculations demonstrated that the exposed Er single-atoms outside the interface on SrTiO 3 preferentially activate the adsorbed CO 2 , leading to the high photoactivity for the CO 2 RR. A novel enhanced photocatalytic mechanism was proposed, in which Er single-atoms play dual roles of an energy transfer bridge and activating CO 2 to promote charge separation. This provides new insights and feasible routes to develop highly efficient photocatalytic materials by engineering rare-earth single-atom doping.