Synthesis of carbon nitride supported highly dispersed ultrafine palladium nanoparticles has been reported for the reduction of aromatic nitro-compounds using hydrazine hydrate as a reducing agent. As a demonstration, the as-synthesized carbon nitride-palladium composite was shown to be a highly active and chemo-selective for the title reaction. Utilizing the optimized reaction conditions a set of aromatic nitro compounds have been converted to their corresponding amine derivatives with good to excellent yield ranging from 80% to 99%. The catalyst can be used for multiple times without affecting the catalytic performance and can also be stored for a long time at ambient condition maintaining the high catalytic efficiency. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.