Direct H2S decomposition induced by plasma with an aid of alumina-supported metal sulfide semiconductors (ZnS/Al2O3 and CdS/Al2O3) for the production of hydrogen was investigated in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor. Effects of specific input energy (SIE), feed flow rate, metal sulfide loading, and added hydrogen on the performance of H2S decomposition were studied. With the aids of ZnS/Al2O3 and CdS/Al2O3, full conversion was obtained at reasonably low energy costs. The 100-h test runs indicated that both ZnS/Al2O3 and CdS/Al2O3 were stable in the course of H2S decomposition. A supported metal sulfide solid solution (Zn0.4Cd0.6S/Al2O3) exhibited higher performance than ZnS/Al2O3 and CdS/Al2O3, achieving full conversion at a reduced energy cost. The mechanism of the plasma-induced H2S decomposition with an aid of a semiconductor catalyst was tentatively proposed. Copyright (C) 2013, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.