Fabrications of core-shell heteronanostructures with excellent optical properties and light induced charge separation effects have recently emerged as promising materials for solar to hydrogen conversion. In this work, 1D-2D hierarchical core-shell heteronanostructures (CSHNSs) CdS-MoS₂ with Au metal nanoparticles have been synthesized by a two-step hydrothermal method. The prepared heteronanostructures exhibit high efficiency toward visible photocatalytic hydrogen production. The enhanced hydrogen evolution activity of CSHNSs was attributed to the improved visible light absorption and the formation of heterojunctions between CdS, Au and MoS₂ components, which increases the charge separation efficiency and thereby suppressing the electron-hole recombination.