The development of highly active, durable, and inexpensive bifunctional catalysts towards both hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is one of the most challenging tasks in the term of renewable energy. Keeping in mind the current scenario, herein, we have synthesized bimetallic transition metal chalcogenides (CoTe2@CdTe and CoSe2@CdSe) by a very easy, single step hydrothermal process. During the synthesis, two different morphologies (i.e. spherical and wire) were obtained depending on the selection of chalcogen. It was found that Te based nanocomposite i.e. CoTe2@CdTe showed a symmetrical nanowire array morphology with a high electrocatalytic surface area and good electrocatalytic activity towards both HER and OER. The structural, morphological and electrochemical features of synthesized nanocomposites were characterized by various useful techniques (like field emission scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, powder X-ray diffraction analysis etc.) to confirm their successful synthesis. The CoTe2@CdTe nanowire array has shown a small onset potential value, high current density, low Tafel slope value along with high stability towards overall water splitting. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.