Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are interesting photocatalysts for solar fuel production and environmental pollution control. However, the poor stability and recombination probability of photogenerated electron-hole pairs prevented the practical applications of QDs based photocatalysts. Herein we demonstrated that the incorporation of amorphous titania (TiO2) coatings with CuInS2/ZnS-TiO2 heterostructures (CIS/ZnS-TiO2 gel) can markedly boost photocatalytic performance and stability for Cr (VI) reduction. The promoted photocatalytic activity of CIS/ZnS-TiO2 gel is associated with the enhanced light absorption and distinctive heterojunction imposed by the integration of CIS/ZnS-TiO2 with amorphous TiO2 coatings, which drastically speed the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Moreover, the physical protection and photo corrosion-inhibition functions (receptors of photogenerated holes from CIS/ZnS QDs) arised from the amorphous TiO2 coatings were mainly responsible for the promoted photo stability of CIS/ZnS-TiO2 gel. Our CIS/ZnS-TiO2 gel retained over 90% of its initial activity under cycle tests, while the bared CIS/ZnS-TiO2 showed a distinct reduction (approximately 35%) of its original efficiency due to the photocorrosion and weight-loss. Obviously, the incorporation of amorphous TiO2 along with its bulk appearance of gel realized the enhanced photocatalytic performance with a favorable cycling stability. This strategy could be extended to other QDs-based photocatalysts in improving photocatalytic performance toward practical application. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.