By taking advantage of large specific surface area and large number of reaction sites of the 2D WS2 nanosheet (NS), we developed a simple adsorption-photoreduction method to load Pt nanoparticles (NPs) on the NS carrier. The WS2 NSs were soaked in KPtCl4 solution for sufficient amount of time to ensure the adsorption equilibrium of the Pt ions on the WS2 NS substrate. Upon photolysis and H-2 post-treatment, uniformly dispersed Pt NPs (similar to 2 nm in size) were harvested. The hybrid structure containing OD Pt NPs and 2D WS2 thin-layers showed distinctly enhanced electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) with the overpotential at a current density of 10 mA cm(-2) reduced to 80 mV compared with commercial Pt/C electrode. The synergetic effect of OD and 2D structures may encourage designing new catalysts systems for special application. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.