Argon plasma bombardment was successfully used for the hydrogen activation of spectroscopic graphite electrodes. The hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in 1 M KOH was investigated using electrochemical techniques such as galvanostatic polarization and a.c. impedence spectroscopy; the electrode surface was characterized by SEM. It is shown that the rate of HER at a given hydrogen overpotential value increases exponentially with the etching time (ET), up to ETs of 30 min, and slightly decreases from 30 to 60 min. The double-layer capacity (C-dl) was established against the hydrogen overpotential for different ETs, with C-dl reaching its maximum for ETs of 30 min. Moreover, it is shown that the etching process also leads to a significant increase in intrinsic activity toward HER.