This paper presents an efficient, highly responsive and highly repeatable MoS2/SiNWs heterostructure based photodetector. SiNWs samples were synthesized using metal assisted chemical etching and MoS2 nanoflakes were grown on SiNWs using wafer scalable processes. SiNWs, MoS2 and MoS2/SiNWs based devices were tested for photodetection performance in the visible region. The heterostructure interface between MoS2 and SiNWs helps to suppress dark current and enhance performance characteristics. The MoS2/SiNWs exhibits higher responsivity of 2.98 AW-1 at 450 nm illumination, which is 3 and 11 times higher than the SiNWs and MoS2 respectively. In addition, this heterojunction based device exhibits a higher detectivity of 2.7 × 1011 Jones and rise/fall time of 0.45/0.75 s. Moreover, the device fabrication method is simple and cost-effective. These results pave the way for the fabrication of scalable, highly repeatable and responsive miniaturized photodetectors based on MoS2/SiNWs for mass production. •MoS2/SiNWs heterojunction based photodetector was constructed using a scalable fabrication process.•Photoresponsivity and detectivity of MoS2/SiNWs photodetector were enhanced in the visible region.•The rise/fall time of the device was estimated to be 0.45/0.75 s.•The MoS2/SiNWs heterojunction device shows highly repeatable results.