Glucose (GLU) and tris-(hydroxylmethyl)-amino methane (Tris) have been introduced to promote the photoelectrocatalytic oxidation of ascorbate (AA) on binary CdS-TiO2 nanoparticle-modified electrodes for efficient photoelectrochemical fuel cells. The oxidative peak height of AA shows an increase with the rise of AA, GLU, OH- or Tris concentration under dark or visible light irradiation conditions. The photoelectrocatalytic activities of TiO2 nanoparticles are dependent on the calcination temperature ranged between 250 and 850 degrees C. The TiO2-450 generated from the calcination treatment at 450 degrees C is combined with CdS nanoparticles to achieve a CdS/TiO2-450 electrode with high photoelectrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of AA and GLU, for which the oxidation mechanism is discussed. While employing CdS/TiO2-450 as anode, carbon felt (CF) as cathode, 0.1 mol L-1 AA-0.1mol L-1 GLU as fuels, Na2SO3-Na2S as sulfur-containing sacrificial agents, and 60 mL min(-1) O-2 as oxidant, the visible light-assisted fuel cell shows synergistically enhanced performances. The open-circuit photovoltage (V-OC) and short-circuit photocurrent density (I-SC) are 0.813 V and 0.568mA cm(-2), and the maximum power density (P-max) is 35.56 mu W cm(-2) upon visible light irradiation of 0.18 mW cm(-2). The present results provide an interesting platform for the effective utilization of renewable energy sources. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.