We report a universal sulfide-assisted synthesis strategy to prepare dumbbell-like M-Ag heterodimers (M = Pd, Au, Pt). Sulfide ions can give fine control over the reaction kinetics of Ag precursors, resulting in the anisotropic overgrowth of Ag to realize the dumbbell-like heterodimers irrespective of the surface facets or components of the M domain. The M-Ag heterodimers were facilely transformed to M-Ag2S heterodimers via a simple sulfidation reaction. This study provides a versatile approach to realizing not only metal-metal heterodimers but also semiconductor-metal heterodimers and will pave the way for designing heteronanostructures with unprecedented morphologies and functions.