This study mainly investigated the effect of acid and alkaline pretreatment on Platanus orientalis (known as the French phoenix) leaves, and also the simultaneous saccharification and photo-hydrogen production from the leaves were pretreated with acid and alkali of different concentrations. Taking cumulative hydrogen production and hydrogen production rate as assessment indicators, the photo-hydrogen production capabilities from leaves with different pretreatments were compared and the modified Gompertz equation was used to analyze hydrogen production process. The results showed that H2SO4 pretreatment could effectively improve the performance of photo-hydrogen production comparing with Ca(OH)2 pretreatment, and the 4% H2SO4 pretreatment was the best pretreatment. The maximum hydrogen concentration, the cumulative hydrogen production and the highest specific hydrogen production yield rate were 66.34%, 369mL, 11.03mL/h, respectively. The exploratory research was carried out about the dilute acid treatment liquid for recycling and reducing the cost of preprocessing.