Well dispersive CdS quantum dots (QDs) were successfully in-situ grown on cadmium hydroxyapatite (Cds(PO4)(3)OH, Cd-Hap) assembled rods through a self-sacrificing hydro thermal method. No any nocuous organic ligands were used in such self-sacrificing route, allowing for a green approach to prepare CdS QDs with clean surfaces and enough active sites. The deposition of CdS QDs onto Cd-Hap surfaces led to a dramatically enhanced performance in H-2 production under visible light irradiation as compared to bulk CdS nanoparticles. The optimal CdS QDs/Cd-Hap composite displayed a H-2 evolution rate of 14.1 jimol 11-1 without using any noble metal cocatalyst, which was about 4.2 times higher than that of pristine CdS. The apparent quantum efficiency for CdS QDs/Cd-Hap composite was up to 18%. It was also found that CdS QDs/Cd-Hap composite can continuously generate H2 from water in the presence of electron donors for more than 125 h. The enhanced photocatalytic performance of CdS QDs/Cd-Hap composites could be attributed to the high charge separation efficiency resulting from the efficient capture of photoinduced electrons by oxygen vacancies in Cd-Hap rods and the quantum confinement effect of CdS QDs with strong redox capacity as well as the increased active sites. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC.