Abstract: Photoelectrochemical characteristics of p-type epitaxial silicon (p⁺/p-Si)cathodes coating with a thin metal film in alkaline solution have been investigated by cyclic yoltammetric and potentiostatic method. It turns out that the p⁺/p-Si cathodes coating with tungsten-nickel alloy and with palladium both show enhanced photocurrents for hydrogen evolution. The potential of the former is shifted to positive direction by more than 0.3V; that of the latter 0.25V. The photoresponses of p-type epitaxial silicon (p⁺/p-Si) cathode is found to be larger than those of p-type single crystal silicon(p-Si) cathode. The scanning electron microscope photos show that the tungsten-nickel deposition film consists of discontinuous clusters rather than a continuous film.