Recovery of hydrogen from industrial H2S waste using spinel photocatalyst was studied. Spinel metal oxide photocatalysts (CuGa2-xFexO4 for x = 0.8, 0.6 and 0.4) were synthesized by ceramic route. They were loaded with 0.5 and 1 wt% noble metal oxide, RuO2 Their XRD pattern revealed a single phase cubic spinel crystalline structure for all the catalysts. SEM displayed small size cubic particles with the particle size decreasing with the decrease in iron content. 1 wt% RuO2 loaded CuGa1.6Fe0.4O4 decomposed H2S in aqueous 0.5 M KOH solution under visible light (lambda >= 420 nm) irradiation and generated H-2 to the tune of 10,045 mu mol/h, giving rise to a high quantum efficiency of 21% at 510 nm. Copyright (C) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.