Cadmium sulfide (CdS) is a promising semiconductor material for photocatalytic hydrogen (H-2) evolution. However, the serious photocorrosion and low visible-light utilization limit its practical application. In this work, cerium oxide (CeO2) modified inorganic-organic CdS-diethylenetriamine (CeO2/CdS-DETA) composite material with different mass ratios was fabricated by hydrothermal method. Crystal structure, light absorption properties, microstructure, photocatalytic H-2 production activity, photocurrent and fluorescence spectra of the composites were investigated. The results exhibited that photocatalytic performance of CeO2/CdS-DETA materials was improved and 7% CeO2/CdS-DETA exhibited excellent catalytic activity (14.84 mmol g(-1) h(-1)) under visible light irradiation (lambda >= 420 nm), which is twice more than that of CdS-DETA. Moreover, the photocatalytic mechanism was preliminarily discussed. This work not only promotes the development of novel inorganic-organic CdS-DETA-based photocatalytic materials for solar energy utilization but provides sustainable photocatalysts by taking both photocatalytic H-2 production and repeated utilization into consideration. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.