Thumbnail image of graphical abstract A method to exfoliate MoS2 in large quantities in surfactant-water solutions is described. The layered material tends to be exfoliated as dispersions of thin, relatively defect-free flakes with lateral sizes of hundreds of nanometers. This method can be extended to a range of other layered compounds. The dispersed flakes can be mixed with nanotubes or graphene to greate functional hybrid materials. ; PUBLISHED ; The authors thank Science Foundation Ireland for financial support through the Principle Investigator scheme, grant number 07/IN.1/I1772, the Research Frontiers Program; grant number 09/RFP/MTR2286; and the European Research Council (grant - SEMANTICS). M.L. and A.O.N. acknowledge IRCSET for support. J.C.G. and G.M. acknowledge financial support from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant No. FA9550-09-1-0609), under the auspices of Dr. Charles Lee, and the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES)