A novel visible-light-driven photocatalyst CaIn2S4 was synthesized using a facile hydrothermal method followed by a post-calcination process. The influence of the calcination temperature and time on the activities of the photocatalyst was investigated. CaIn2S4 exhibits optical absorption predominantly in visible region with an optical band gap of 1.76 eV. Considerable activity for hydrogen evolution from pure water was observed without any sacrificial agents or cocatalysts under visible light irradiation. The maximum hydrogen evolution rate achieved was 30.92 mu mol g(-1)h(-1) without obvious deactivation of the photocatalytic activity for four consecutive runs of 32 h. Copyright (C) 2013, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.