The motivation of this work is the hydrogen production as a non-polluting renewable energy under visible light. For this purpose, the hetero-junction 2%MnO2/SiO2 was synthetized by the impregnation method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microcopy (MEB), FTIR spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance and electrical conductivity. The X-ray analysis shows the amorphous silica substrate and the rutile phase MnO2. The optical curve (alpha h nu)(2) as a function of hv shows a direct transition of 1.83 eV for MnO2. The capacitance measurement of the rutile indicates a flat band potential of -0.027 V-SCE, more negative than the hydrogen evolution in SO32- aqueous solution. As application, hydrogen was successfully evolved over the hetero-junction MnO2/SiO2. A good H-2 production was obtained after 30 min of irradiation corresponding to 5.1 mmol h(-1) g(-1) under visible light (29 mWcm(-2)). The improved photocatalytic performance is due to the sensitizer MnO2 homogeneously supported on porous SiO2 substrate acting as templating agent. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.