The photocatalysts containing various nickel species were successfully fabricated via loading Ni(OH)(2) and/or Ni2O3 species on the surface of SnO2 nanoparticles, and their roles in the photo-absorb ability, photo-induced charge transfer and photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performances were also investigated under visible light irradiation. Pt/Ni2O3-SnO2 catalyst was not active for hydrogen evolution reaction, while the photocatalytic hydrogen evolution rates of Pt/Ni(OH)(2)-SnO2 and Pt/Ni(OH)(2)-Ni2O3-SnO2 were 0.9 and 10.8 pinol g(-1) h(-1), respectively. It indicated that the photocatalytic activity of Pt/Ni(OH)(2)-Ni2O3-SnO2 catalyst had been improved evidently in the presence of Ni-2 O-3. The UV-vis DRS results showed that Ni(OH)(2) enhanced light absorption of catalyst significantly in visible light region. The i-t curves confirmed that the co-existence of Ni(OH)(2) and Ni2O3 improved significantly the photocurrent of Pt/Ni(OH)(2)-Ni2O3-SnO2 photo-electrode. In addition, the long term experiments revealed that Pt/Ni(OH)(2)-Ni2O3-SnO2 catalyst was quite stable under given conditions. A proposed reaction mechanism for hydrogen evolution was also present. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.