Zinc oxide is recently being used as a magnetic semiconductor with the introduction of mag-netic elements.In this work,we report phase pure synthesis of Mg and Ni co-substituted ZnO to explore its structure,optical,magnetic and photo-catalytic properties.X-ray diffraction analysis reveals the hexagonal wurtzite type structure having P63mc space group without any impurity phase.UV-Vis spectrophotometry demonstrates the variation in bandgap with the addition of Mg and Ni content in ZnO matrix.Magnetic measurements exhibit a clear boosted magnetization in Ni and Mg co-doped compositions with its stable value of bandgap corroborating the structural stability and magnetic tuning for its advanced applications in modern-day spintronic devices.Photo-catalytic measurements performed using methyl green degradation demonstrate an enhanced trend of activity in Mg and Ni co-doped compositions.