Controlling the surface crystallographic orientation in a nanostructured catalyst is expected to be effective in improving its catalytic performance. Herein, a simple one-step method for producing an anodized nanoporous gold (NPG) electrode with a controlled contribution of atomic surface orientations is reported. Anodization of a conventional Au electrode in 35 and 500 mM HCl solutions produced nanoporous structures with a considerable amount of Au(111) and Au(100) surfaces, respectively. The former exhibited remarkably efficient electrocatalysis for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). The obtained results show that the present method is valuable for the development of effective catalysts for various applications utilizing nanoporous structures. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.