Transition metal chalcogenides have intensively focused on photocatalytic hydrogen production for a decade due to their stronger edge and the quantum confinement effect. This work mainly focuses on synthesis and hydrogen production efficiencies of cobalt disulfide (CoS 2)-embedded TiO 2 nanocomposites. Materials are synthesized by using a hydrothermal approach and the hydrogen production efficiencies of pristine CoS 2, TiO 2 nanoparticles and CoS 2/TiO 2 nanocomposites are compared under UV irradiation. A higher amount of hydrogen production (2.55 mmol g −1) is obtained with 10 wt.% CoS 2/TiO 2 nanocomposite than pristineTiO 2 nanoparticles, whereas no hydrogen production was observed with pristine CoS 2 nanoparticles. This result unveils that the metal dichalcogenide–CoS 2 acts as an effective co-catalyst and nanocrystalline TiO 2 serves as an active site by effectively separating the photogenerated electron–hole pair. This study lays down a new approach for developing transition metal dichalcogenide materials with significant bandgaps that can effectively harness solar energy for hydrogen production.