Harnessing solar energy for water splitting into hydrogen $ (H_{2})$ and oxygen $(O_{2})$ gases in the presenceof semiconductor catalyst is one of the most promising and cleaner methods of chemical fuel $ (H_{2})$ production.Herein, we report a simplified method for the preparation of photo-active titanate nanorods catalystand explore the key role of calcination temperature and time period in improving catalytic properties. Bothas-synthesized and calcined material showed rod-like shape and trititanate structure as evidenced from crystalstructure and morphology analysis. Notably, calcination process affected both length and diameter of thenanorods into shorter and smaller size respectively. In turn, they significantly influenced the band gap reduction,resulting in visible light absorption at optimized calcination conditions. The calcined nanorods showedshift in optical absorption band edge towards longer wave length than pristine nanorods. The rate of hydrogengeneration using different photocatalysts was measured by suspending trititanate nanorods (in the absence ofco-catalyst) in glycerol-water mixture under solar light irradiation. Among the catalysts, nanorods calcined at$250^{0}C$ for 2 hours recorded high rate of H2 production and stability confirmed for five cycles. Photocatalyticproperties and plausible pathway responsible for improved H2 production are discussed in detail.