Photocatalytic hydrogen generation is one of the most promising solutions to convert light energy into green chemical energy. In the present work, methoxy ethyl methyl imidazolium methyl sulphonate ionic liquid is used for the synthesis of i-TiO2 nanoparticles via ionothermal method at 120 degrees C. The obtained products were characterized by various spectroscopic techniques like XRD, FTIR, Raman, UV-visible, DRS, TEM and TG-DSC analysis. XRD pattern confirmed the anatase phase with minor ruffle phase having average crystallite size of 5 nm. From the FTIR spectrum, the band appeared at similar to 547 cm(-1) confirmed the Ti-O-Ti stretching and also few bands of ionic liquid. UV vis spectrum clearly reveals the blue shift due to size effect of TiO2. The spherical surface structure and particle size (15-30 nm) have been studied in detail using TEM images. Finally, the practical applicability of the as synthesized i-TiO2 nanoparticles is shown by using it as a photo catalyst towards the generation of H-2 through water splitting reaction and it is found to be 462 mu mol h(-1)g(-1). (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.