Purpose This study aims to investigate the inhibition effect of a newly synthesized1,2,3-triazole containing a carbohydrate and imidazole substituents, namely, 1-((1-((2,2,7,7-tetramethyltetrahydro-5H-bis([1,3]dioxolo)[4,5-b:4′,5′-d]pyran-5-yl)methyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)methyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole (TTB) on the corrosion of mild steel in aerated 1 M H₂SO₄. Design/methodology/approach The authors have used weight loss measurement, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, FT-IR studies, scanning electron microscopy analysis and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy techniques. Findings It is found that, in the working range of 298-328 K, the inhibition efficiency of TTB increases with increasing concentration to attain the highest value (92 per cent) at 2.5 × 10⁻³ M. Both chemisorption and physisorption of TTB take place on the mild steel, resulting in the formation of an inhibiting film. Computational methods point to the imidazole and phenyl ring as the main structural parts responsible of adsorption by electron-donating to the steel surface, while the triazol ring is responsible for the electron accepting. Such strong donating–accepting interactions lead to higher inhibition efficiency of TTB in the aqueous working system. Originality/value This work is original with the aim of finding new acid corrosion inhibitors.