Development of cost-effective catalyst material with enhanced activity for hydrogen generation is highly desirable for hydrogen powered portable applications. In this work, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) incorporated on palm oil waste activated carbon (POAC) was used as a novel catalyst for enhanced hydrogen production by sodium borohydride (NaBH4) hydrolysis. Hydrothermally synthesized MoS2/POAC catalyst composite was characterized by SEM, EDX, XRD, FTIR, Raman, TGA and Surface area analysis. Characterization studies revealed the uniform and complete synthesis of MoS2 nanoparticles on the POAC surface with crystallite size of 18.2 nm. The catalyst composite showed enhancement in thermal stability and reduction in specific surface area as compared with POAC. Hydrogen generation investigations showed ideal weight ratio of composite catalyst as 10:1 (w/w of POAC: MoS2) and optimal catalyst to feed weight ratio as 0.07. MoS2/POAC catalyst with 10 wt% of POAC loading recorded the maximum catalytic activity of 1170.66 mL/g min with lower activation energy of 39.1 kJ/mol. The catalyst composite exhibited virtuous reusability with a 28% loss in activity for nine cycle regeneration run. Thus, MoS2/POAC catalyst system is highly attractive for commercial applicability and is a potential candidate for enhanced hydrogen production through NaBH4 hydrolysis. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.