A metal-organic framework based on Ni (II) as metal ion and trimasic acid (TMA) as organic linker was synthesized and introduced into MgH2 to prepare a Mg-(TMA-Ni MOF)-H composite through ball-milling. The microstructures, phase changes and hydrogen storage behaviors of the composite were systematically studied. It can be found that Ni ion in TMA-Ni MOF is attracted by Mg to form nano-sized Mg2Ni/Mg2NiH4 after de/rehydrogenation. The hydriding and dehydriding enthalpies of the Mg-MOF-H composite are evaluated to be -74.3 and 78.7 kJ mol(-1) H-2, respectively, which means that the thermodynamics of Mg remains unchanged. The absorption kinetics of the Mg-MOF-H composite is improved by showing an activation energy of 51.2 kJ mol(-1) H-2. The onset desorption temperature of the composite is 167.8 K lower than that of the pure MgH2 at the heating rate of 10 K/min. Such a significant enhancement on the sorption kinetic properties of the composite is attributed to the catalytic effects of the nanoscale Mg2Ni/Mg2NiH4 derived from TMA-Ni MOF by providing gateways for hydrogen diffusion during re/dehydrogenation processes. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.