Photocatalytic hydrogen generation, with great potential in clean energy, is an effective way to convert solar energy into hydrogen energy. The process of photocatalytic hydrogen generation mainly includes the generation and migration of electron-hole pairs as well as the REDOX reaction at the surface-active sites. In this process, due to the combination of electron-hole pairs and the limitation of surface-active sites, the electrons and holes cannot completely migrate on the catalyst surface and participate in the REDOX reaction, so hydrogen evolution efficiency is reduced. Thus for the purpose of restraining recombination of photogenerated electronic-hole and increasing surface active sites, from the two aspects of regulating the internal characteristics and external catalyst properties, the current common manipulation measures on catalyst particle size, morphology, crystal and surface active sites are analyzed, and the ways of constructing heterogeneous structure are discussed. The research results by the means of loading cocatalyst in recent years are summarized. By means of exploring how these factors influence the efficiency of catalyst activity of hydrogen evolution, ways of improving the efficiency of the hydrogen evolution method are summarized. Finally, the future research direction of photocatalytic hydrogen production is prospected, hoping to provide reference for improving the efficiency of photocatalytic hydrogen production.