Colalt sulfide nanocrystals (NCs), including dandelion-like Co9S8 and sphere-like Co3S4, have been synthesized via a thermal decomposition approach using cobalt acetylacetonate as the cobalt source, 1-dodecanethiol as the sulfur source and oleic acid or oleylamine as the high boiling organic solvent. It is found that the molar ratio of the Co:S precursor and the species of solvent play an important role in the control of phase and morphology of cobalt sulfide nanostructures. The phase structure and morphology of the as-synthesized nickel sulfide NCs are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectrum (EDS) mapping, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and N-2 adsorption-desorption. Then we further compare the electrocatalytic activity and stability of as-synthesized cobalt sulfide NCs for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The results show that sphere-like Co3S4 exhibits better electrocatalytic activity than the dandelion-like Co9S8 NCs for HER, which can be attributed to the difference of phase structure and morphology. The sphere-like Co3S4 NCs have large surface area and high electrical conductivity, both are beneficial to enhance the catalytic activity. This study indicates that the crystalline phase structure and morphology of cobalt sulfide NCs are important for designing HER electrocatalysts with high efficiency and good stability. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.