Abstract: To study the effect of amino acids on hydrogen production in photosynthetic fermentation,maize straw is used as hydrogen production substrate,and L-cysteine and L-threonine are added at different concentrations,respectively. The cumulative hydrogen production,pH value,oxidation-reduction potential（ORP）and hydrogen production kinetics are analyzed. The results shown that the optimum concentration of L-cysteine is 0.6 g/L,and the specific hydrogen production is（54.4±0.75）mL/g,which is 45.45% higher than that of the control group. The optimum concentration of L-threonine is 0.6 g/L,and the specific hydrogen production is（48.6±0.55）mL/g,which is 31.71% higher than that of the control group. The results of hydrogen production kinetics shown that both the maximum hydrogen production potential and the maximum hydrogen production rate can be increased by the appropriate concentration of L-cysteine and L-threonine,but the former shortens the hydrogen production delay time,while the latter increases the hydrogen production delay time.