A highly efficient hydrogen generation from formic acid/sodium formate aqueous solution catalyzed by in situ synthesized Pd/C with citric acid has been successfully achieved at room temperature. Interestingly, the presence of citric acid during the formation and growth of the Pd nanoparticles on carbon can drastically enhance the catalytic property of the resulted Pd/C, on which the conversion and turnover frequency for decomposition of formic acid/sodium formate system can reach the highest values ever reported of 85% within 160 min and 64 mol H(2) mol(-1) catalyst h(-1), respectively, at room temperature. The present simple, low cost, but highly efficient CO-free hydrogen generation system at room temperature is believed to greatly promote the practical application of formic acid system on fuel cells.