Cu3SnS4 (CTS) with various morphologies have been synthesized via solvothethermal method. The influence of different solvents such as deionized water (CTS-DI), N,N-dimethylformamide (CTS-DMF) and poly ethylene glycol (CTS-PEG) has been investigated. XRD patterns of all the prepared samples exhibit tetragonal structure with preferential orientation along (1 1 2) direction. It is found that the solvents play a key role to tune the morphology and band gap. The morphology varied as irregular sheet like structure, mesoporous structure and feather like structure for CTS-DI, CTS-DMF and CTS-PEG, respectively. The band gap was found to be 1.33, 1.65 and 1.19 eV for CTS-DI, CTS-DMF and CTS-PEG, respectively. Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction and photocatalytic dye degradation of MB were tested using the prepared CTS samples. As an electrocatalyst or photocatalyst, it is found that CTS-DMF with mesopours structure shows an enhanced catalytic activity with lower overpotential, a smaller Tafel slope (88 mV/dec), high stability in acidic medium and an enhanced photocatalytic activity. A more realistic mechanism for the photocatalytic activity of CTS-DMF is proposed. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.