A simple and high yield room-temperature solid-state method was employed for the first time to fabricate graphene oxide–metal sulfide composites (GO–metal sulfide composites). The chemical composition, morphology and microstructural features of the obtained products were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen absorption–desorption specific surface area (BET) and UV-vis spectroscopy (UV). TEM study indicates that metal sulfide nanoparticles were well dispersed on the GO nanosheets in the GO–metal sulfide composites. It was found that the specific surface area of the composites increased with the introduction of GO. The as-synthesized GO–metal sulfide composites were used as photocatalysts for the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under UV irradiation. The results indicated that the composites exhibited superior photocatalytic activity to pure metal sulfides, owing to the high specific surface area and the reduction of photoinduced electron–hole pair recombination in metal sulfides due to the introduction of GO.