The cyano-modified graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was successfully synthesized by a facile thermal condensation in air atmosphere using sodium acetate and melamine as precursor. The phase structure，morphology and optical properties of the catalyst were characterized by XRD, SEM, FT-IR, XPS, UV-Vis, PL and EIS. The synthesized cyano-modified g-C3N4 has high-efficient photocatalytic hydrogen production, H2 production rate (λ≥ 420 nm) of cyano-modified g-C3N4 is 4.5 times of that on pristine g-C3N4 because the cyano groups enhance the photo-generated electrons separation ability. Besides, the cyano-modified g-C3N4 exhibits better photocatalytic stability in the repeated photocatalytic hydrogen production process.