Rapid and simple determination of cysteine is a key requirement for both diagnosis and treatment of diseases. A novel concept is proposed for combining dual reacting-mediated process into the construction of a simple yet effective colorimetric strategy for cysteine detecting, which is based on the analyte-induced formation of ferrous ion and graphene oxide-supported ionic recognition through selective coordination process between phenanthroline molecule and ferrous ion. In colorimetric analysis, the simple principle of ferrous ion that cysteine-induced can be recognized by phenanthroline indicator due to their good binding affinity and therefore provided a sensitive optical readout for conveniently detecting cysteine. Proofconcept experiments demonstrate that the proposed colorimetric system shows rapid response toward cysteine determination as well as with a satisfying detection limit of 4.8 μM only by using simple UV-Vis spectroscopy and 15 μM with the naked eye.