Technology urges to replace the state-of-the-art catalysts such as platinum with low cost, earth abundant and durable electrocatalysts for efficient hydrogen evolution (HER) reaction which is going to become the major sustainable production of energy in future. Herein, we present the heterostructure based MoS2.ZnO (MZO) heterostructures for successful electrochemical water splitting process. For HER, the prepared MoS2.ZnO nanocomposites show the over potential as low as 239 mV at cathodic current density 10 mAcm(-2) with an exchange current density of 3.2 mu Acm(-2). A Tafel slope of about 62 mV per decade suggested to have the Volmer-Heyrovsky mechanism for the HER process with MoS2.ZnO nano composite as the catalyst. The small Tafel slope indicates a promising electrocatalyst for HER in practical application. The strong interface formation at the MoS2.ZnO heterostructure facilitates higher catalytic activity and excellent cycling stability. The heterostructure formation based on semiconductor two dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) open up new avenues for effective manipulation of HER catalysts. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.