Metal-organic frameworks, ZIF-8, derived carbon materials are firstly applied as a counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells due to their easy fabrication, large specific surface area and high catalytic activities towards the reduction of I3 − ions. An efficiency of 7.32% is achieved under the illumination of 1 sun (AM 1.5, 100 mW/cm2), which is comparable to that of the solar cell based on Pt electrode.