Copper ferrites (CuFe 2 O 4) nanopowder was prepared via single pot hydrothermal method followed by annealing at 500°C, and XRD, SEM, XPS and UPS were employed for the material characterization. CuFe 2 O 4 was employed as the catalyst for the degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) under dark and UVA-illuminated conditions, both in the presence of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) or peroxydisulfate (PDS) as radical precursor under neutral pH values. While the individual processes of photocatalysis (using CuFe 2 O 4 alone) and photolysis of radical precursors (either PMS or PDS alone) exhibited limited efficiency in the degradation of BPA, a significant synergistic effect became evident upon combining CuFe 2 O 4 with PMS or PDS. This led to a notable increase in the degradation constant, with an enhancement of up to 3.8 times under dark and 34 times when PMS was used in the presence of UVA radiation. Under the most favourable conditions employing 0.5 g L-1 of catalyst, the degradation constant of BPA was 0.211 min-1 with the use of 2 mM of PMS and 0.018 min-1 when 2 mM of PDS were employed. These experiments were conducted under UVA irradiation at pH 6.2, resulting in the complete degradation of BPA within less than 20 min. The activation mechanism of PMS and PDS using CuFe 2 O 4 was comprehensively elucidated, revealing sulfate radicals as the primary reactive species in PMS-containing systems, whereas a predominantly non-radical pathway was observed in the presence of PDS. Indeed, XPS indicated that surface copper played an important role in the non-radical pathway. Furthermore, the CuFe 2 O 4/ PMS/UVA and CuFe 2 O 4 \PDS\UVA systems exhibited high performance in efficiently degrading different phenolic compounds including BPA, phenol and p-nitrophenol. These achievements were observed across different real-water matrices with a particular emphasis on sewage treatment plant water.