In this work, a series of Ni1-xMx (M = Cr, Mo, W) nanoparticles (NPs) have been successfully synthesized via a simple surfactant-aided co-reduction method and employed as highly efficient and cost effective catalysts for hydrogen generation from aqueous solution of ammonia borane (NH3BH3, AB) at room temperature. It is found that the as-synthesized NiM NPs (M = Cr, Mo, W) exhibit much higher catalytic performance for the hydrolysis of AB as compared to that of pure Ni NPs. In addition, among all the Ni1-xMx (M = Cr, Mo, W) NPs, the Ni0.9Cr0.1, Ni0.9Mo0.1, and Ni0.8W0.2 NPs show the highest catalytic activities with the turnover frequency (TOP) values of 10.7, 27.3 and 25.0 mol H-2 (mol metal min)(-1), respectively. Remarkably, these optimized NiM catalysts can also perform efficiently in the hydrolysis of hydrazine borane (N2H4BH3, HB). The present low-cost and high-performance of the NiM catalysts system may encourage the practical application of AB and HB as the promising chemical hydrogen storage materials. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.