Both anion (F-) and cation (Cr3+/Ta5+) doping were conducted simultaneously to prepare tri-doped photocatalyst, SrTiO3:Cr/Ta/F, by spray pyrolysis from aqueous precursor solutions. The ternary doping of F- ion into SrTiO3:Cr/Ta increased the hydrogen evolution rate up to 3887.9 mu mol g(-1) h(-1) (quantum efficiency: 6.22%) under visible light irradiation, which was 1.84 times higher than that over SrTiO3:Cr/Ta. The optimum contents of dopants for the maximum hydrogen evolution rate were Cr (0.1 mol%), Ta (0.1 mol%) and F (6.0 mol%), respectively. The ternary doping of F- ion contributed to the reduction of Ti4+ and Cr6+ ions to Ti3+ and Cr3+ ions, respectively, by the generation of extra electrons in the lattice. The partially substituted structure of the photocatalyst could be expressed as Sr(Ti(1-2x-z)(4+)Ti(z)(3+)Cr(x-y)(3+)Cr(y)(6+)Ta(5-1)x)(O3-w2-Fw-). Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.