Photocatalysis, which can convert low density solar energy into high density chemical energy by direct utilization of solar energy, plays more and more important roles in solving current urgent energy shortage and environmental pollution issues. However, traditional photocatalyst TiO₂ with large band gap which can only absorb UV light limits its practical applications in the case of natural solar light, so exploiting visible light driven photocatalysts is the most important topic to utilize solar energy efficiently. Compared to anion doping, cation doping, co-doping, crystal facets control, heterjunction fabrication and surface amorphous, as a novel approach to enhance the visible light driven photocatalytic performance, plasmonic photocatalyst which can combine the advantages of both surface plasmon resonance and photocatalysis has been extensively studied since it was firstly reported in 2008. For plasmonic photocatalyst, in general, noble metal nanoparticles are deposited on the surface of semiconductor supports. Therefore, it is very important to understand the influences of different metal nanoparticles and supports on the interfaces between metals and supports, and the resulting photocatalytic activities. In this paper, based on the noble metals and supports of plasmonic photocatalyst, the latest important research progress is reviewed. The mechanistic aspects of plasmonic photocatalysis are discussed and the opinions on future studies are presented.

Contents
1 Introduction
2 Plasmonic photocatalyst
2.1 Supported noble metal nanoparticles
2.2 Influences of supports
3 Mechanistic aspects of plasmonic photocatalysis
4 Conclusions and outlook