In this work, a serious of highly efficient and noble metal-free NiS modified MnxCd1-xS nanocomposites were synthesized via a simple direct in suit precipitation process. The as-synthesized products were characterized by XRD, UV-vis DRS, SEM, EDS, TEM, HRTEM, XPS, PL and TRFIA (the time resolved fluorescence spectra). Hydrogen evolution of as-synthesized NiS/MnxCd1-xS composites in the presence of Na2S-Na2SO3 under visible light irradiation (lambda >= 420 nm) was investigated. The results demonstrated that photpcatalytic hydrogen evolution of Mn0.5Cd0.5S was significantly enhanced by loading NiS nanopartides. As a highly efficient co-catalyst, the optimal NiS loading content was found to be 0,3 wt%, giving a H-2 evolution rate of 419.3 mu mol/h with an apparent quantum efficiency (QE) of 5.21% (420 nm), which was nearly 18.6 and 3.1 times than that of Mn0.5Cd0.5S and 1.0 wt% Pt/Mn0.5Cd0.5S under the same condition. This work reveals that low cost and earth-abundant NiS can replace noble metals as a highly efficient co-catalyst in hydrogen evolution. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.