In this work, mesoporous WS2 with high surface area was prepared by hard template method. First, a one-step nanocasting generates metal precursor@mesoporous silica SBA-15 composites. A hydrothermal method is subsequently adopted to convert the precursors to sulfides in the confined nanochannels. After etching silica SBA-15, mesoporous layered metal sulfide crystals were obtained as the products. Then, we have put forward a new catalyst based on mesoporous WS2, RGO nanosheets and Pt nanoparticles as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution. The Pt/WG-2 nanostructure electrocatalyst in this report exhibits excellent performance with a small Tafel slope of 47 mV dec(-1), longterm durability and an overpotential of 95 mV in 0.5 M H2SO4 for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.