The present invention relates to a graphene oxide-based spectrally selective coating on metal and nonmetal substrate. More particularly, the present invention provides a spectrally selective coating consisting of Graphene Oxide (GO) based absorber layer followed by deposition of inorganic protective layer using a wet chemical process. The process parameters such as graphite/sulphuric acid concentration ratio, oxidation time, soaking time, and synthesis temperature are optimized to make the GO powder spectrally selective with addition of oxalic acid, ascorbic acid, and aluminum isopropoxide. The spectrally selective coating of the present invention is RoHS and REACH-compliant and exhibits high UV stability, high corrosion resistant, high humidity resistance, and good chemical inertness.