Experimental results on generation of hydrogen from pure culture of Halobacterium halobium NCIM 2852 without any external support system investigated under different solar intensity, light intensity and wavelength are presented in this paper. The rate of hydrogen generation increases from 0.1602 +/- 0.02154 to 1.002 +/- 0.209 l/h with the increase in solar intensity from 3 to 7 kW h/m(2), for an exposed surface area of 3.84 x 10(-3) m(2) of the bowl of the bioreactor. Further, with the same exposed surface area, the rate of generation of hydrogen increases to 0.42 +/- 0.1407 and 1.63 +/- 0.2765 l/h at 1000 and 4000 lx of light intensity, respectively. The rate of generation of hydrogen exhibits sharp maxima at 600 nm light wavelength. (C) 2007 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.