A novel NIR (near infrared) active photothermal agent, CNTs-PAMAM-Ag2S has been synthesized by covalent grafting of polyamidoamine (PAMAM) to carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and subsequent deposition of Ag2S nanocrystallites. The potential of CNTs-PAMAM-Ag2S as a NIR active photothermal agent was preliminarily accessed by its electronic absorption spectrum measured in UV-vis-NIR region. The CNTs-PAMAM-Ag2S exhibited excellent photothermal effect and photothermal conversion efficiency of 26% under illumination with 980 nm laser, the efficiency was found to be higher than popular gold and copper based photothermal agents. Temperature attained by CNTs-PAMAM-Ag2S during measurement of its photothermal effect was 64.7 degrees C at 1 g/mL, which far exceeds the temperature tolerance level of cancer cells. So that CNTs-PAMAM-Ag2S could destroy the cancer cells in an effective manner. Furthermore, it was found the linear dependence of photothermal effect of CNTs-PAMAM-Ag2S over its concentration. CNTs-PAMAM-Ag2S possessed excellent stability against photo-bleaching and photo-corrosiveness. In consideration of its outstanding photothermal effect and photothermal conversion efficiency, CNTs-PAMAM-Ag2S could be a promising photothermal agent to employ in future photothermal therapy.