Lead sulfide (PbS) has drawn research interest due to its excellent optical, thermoelectric, and other physical properties. Various methods have been developed to synthesize PbS nanoparticles (NPs) for application in a variety of fields. However, most of these methods either require complex experimental conditions or are inefficient. Here, a highly efficient approach to synthesize PbS NPs, inspired by using 2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) as a heavy metal chelator to treat lead, mercury, and arsenic poisoning, is reported. DMSA can attach to protein-based materials, such as human hair, using disulfide bonds (–SS–) as reaction sites. DMSA tethered to the protein-based materials can further chelate with Pb2+ to assist in the formation of PbS NPs. Characterization of the synthesized PbS NPs demonstrated clear crystallization and uniform distribution. Furthermore, the new method is much more efficient than those previously reported, which can greatly improve the production of PbS NPs for a broad range of applications. Moreover, detailed analysis shows that all protein-based materials can function as templates for synthesizing PbS NPs due to the prevalent existence of –SS– in the natural materials.