To improve the photocorrosion of CdS nanorod arrays (CdS NRAs), we have designed a simple and facile treatment method of in-situ hydrogenation to fabricate CdS@SnS/SnO2 heterostructure on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass, which is a highly photostable hydrogenated CdS-based film photocatalyst (CdS NRAs-H-2). Over a 25-h long time irradiation, the total photocatalytic hydrogen production of hydrogenated CdS NRAs is almost 2.0 times higher than that of un-hydrogenated CdS NRAs. Moreover, the average hydrogen production rate of CdS NRAs-H-2 can steadily maintain at 23.75 mu mol cm(-2) h (-1) with 102% of retention rate after 5 reaction cycles, while they are only 6.13 mu mol cm(-2) h(-1) with 30% of retention rate for un-hydrogenated common CdS NRAs. The photocatalytic mechanism on enhanced activity and stability for hydrogenated CdS NRAs photocatalyst is also investigated and discussed in detail. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.