Halévy became a disciple and collaborator of Saint-Simon, aiding in the foundation of his journal, Le Producteur, and writing the introduction to his work, Opinions Littéraires, Philosophiques et Industrielles, in which Olinde Rodrigues and Étienne-Martin Bailly also assisted. In 1828 he wrote a History of the Jews in Modern Times, one of the earliest works on this topic.
In 1831, Halévy became an assistant professor of French literature at the Ecole Polytechnique, where there was some discrimination against Jews. However he abandoned the position three years later.
In 1837, Halévy was attached to the Ministry of Public Instruction as chief of the bureau of scientific societies, and remained there until his retirement in 1853, after which he devoted the remainder of his life to literature, writing a large number of poems, translations, plays, and other works. Few of these are read today, although he was well regarded in his time. Amongst them was a biography of his brother Fromental, published after the latter's death in 1864.