Heterostructured CdS-pillared tetratitanate nanohybrid was fabricated by electrostatically driven self-assembly of the exfoliated tetratitanate nanosheets and CdS nanosol particles. It was revealed that the present nanohybrid is porous with a specific surface area of 65 m(2) g(-1) and that the tetratitanate nanosheets were restacked in a well-ordered arrangement with a gallery height of 2.3 nm. The formation of an electronic coupling between the titanate nanosheets and the encapsulated CdS pillars was supported by XPS and photocurrent measurements. The nanohybrid exhibits a highly photocatalytic activity of 895 mu mol h(-1) g(-1), in H-2 evolution from water splitting under 300W Xe lamp irradiation, which is about 11 and 7 times higher than its parents H2Ti4O9 center dot H2O and CdS, respectively. Loading 3 wt% Pt resulted in that its activity was further improved to 1897 mu mol h(-1) g(-1). It was showed that the as-prepared nanohybrid has an excellent stability and recurrence performance in hydrogen generation. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.