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Abstract Ce/ZnO crystallites along with bare ZnO were prepared by solution free mechanochemical method and characterized with powder XRD, SEM, EDX, XPS, UV–Visible and Photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The visible light photocatalytic performance of these materials was investigated for H2 evolution with the aqueous 10vol% methanol solution under one sun conditions using solar simulator. X-ray diffraction data suggests the hexagonal wurtzite structure for Ce/ZnO crystallites and the incorporation of Ce4+ ion in ZnO is supported by the shifting of XRD peaks to lower Bragg angles that indicate lattice expansion. With the increase of Ce content in ZnO, the crystallite size of Ce/ZnO decreases and the specific surface area increases. UV–Visible spectra propose the decrease in optical band gap of Ce incorporated ZnO with the increase of Ce content up to 3 mol. %. The XPS analysis supports the incorporation of Ce4+ in Ce/ZnO. The PL spectra propose that, with the insertion of Ce ions into ZnO, intensity of UV emission band decreases that reflects the low recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers, which is responsible for higher photocatalytic H2 production. The extent of hydrogen production is affected by calcination temperature of Ce/ZnO. 2 mol. % Ce incorporated ZnO calcined at 600 °C produces43 μmolh−1 g−1 of hydrogen.