Plasmonic Ag−Au/ZnO nanorods (ZNRs) based photo-anodes were synthesized using a simple electrochemical route and were then evaluated for photoelectrochemical (PEC) activity. The amalgamation of Ag and Au nanoclusters broadens the UV-Vis light absorption in the range of 400 nm to 650 nm. Ag−Au/ZNRs photo-anodes had shown photocurrent density of ∼1.4 mA cm −2 , at a bias of 0.75 V/SCE, which is ∼3.1 times of bare ZNRs photo-anode. Bi-metallic Ag−Au/ZNRs based photo-anode shows the maximum photo-conversion efficiency of 0.77 % at 0.5 V/SCE, under one sun illumination. Formation of hot electrons in Ag−Au/ZNRs photo-anodes can be partly held responsible for the enhanced PEC activity. Au/Ag core/shell morphology evolves when a thin layer of Ag is loaded on Au nanoparticles. For an in-depth analysis on Ag−Au incorporated ZNRs based photo-anodes and its PEC activity, a detailed characterization was carried out using physico-chemical, spectral and microscopy techniques. The analysis shows that Au in direct contact with ZnO interacts mainly with oxygen vacancies present on surface of ZnO and Ag interacts with Au for an effective electron-hole segregation process at their interface and electron storage occurs in metal nanoparticles. The results suggest bi-metal incorporated ZNRs based photo-anodes can be a prospective candidate for PEC water splitting application. © 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim