Spherical montmorillonite-supported molybdenum disulfide nanosheets as a self-sedimentary catalyst for organic pollutants removal

•Porous spherical montmorillonite supported exfoliated MoS2 microspheres were fabricated.•The microspheres exhibited highly efficient catalytic ability for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol and methylene blue.•The microspheres could be easily recovered and reused without any devices involved.•The microspheres had almost unaltered catalytic performance after twenty cycles.