Searching for earth-abundant and high-efficiency electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of critical importance for future energy conversion devices. To facilitate the HER on a nonprecious metal-based catalyst, integration of catalytically active nanoparticles with highly conductive carbon supports represents a promising strategy since the formed nanohybrid can offer available active sites and improved electron transfer capability. Herein, we demonstrate a feasible and scalable approach to fabricate well-dispersed Mo2C nanoparticles firmly anchored on 2D ultrathin N-doped carbon nanosheets (denoted as Mo2C@N-C nanosheets) using inexpensive NaCl as recyclable templates. The adoption of NaCl template provides a 2D space for the one-step concurrent growth of Mo2C nanoparticles and N-doped carbon nanosheets. Benefiting from the synergy between fine Mo2C nanoparticles with high dispersity and N-doped C nanosheets, the resultant Mo2C@N-C nanosheets exhibit an outstanding HER performance with a low overpotential, a small Tafel slope and excellent stability under acidic medium, making them a promising noble-metal-free HER catalyst. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.