Recently, strontium titanate (SrTiO ₃) is becoming a research hotspot due to its potential application for a new photocatalytic material. In this paper, M/SrTiO ₃ catalysts (M=Ag, Pd) were prepared by loading Ag or Pd nanoparticles on the surface of strontium titanate powder in different proportions. The experimental results showed that both Ag and Pd nanoparticles could effectively promote the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange by strontium titanate, and the type and load of noble metal have obvious effect on the activity of the catalyst. The catalyst had the highest methyl orange degradation rate of 95.1% after the reaction for 2 h when the Ag mass fraction was 0.2%. Notably, the degradation rate over the catalyst increased by about 35% comparing with pure strontium titanate powder. Similar to Ag/SrTiO ₃, the degradation rate with Pd mass fraction of 0.2% increased by about 26% comparing with that on pure strontium titanate powder. The mechanism and effect of noble metals on the photocatalytic performance of strontium titanate were briefly discussed.