This article describes a one-step solution combustion route (within 30min at 350°C in air) to prepare Fe 2 O 3 anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) from Fe(NO 3 ) 3 ⋅9H 2 O solution with citric acid. XRD, SEM-EDX and TEM showed that the product consisted a mixture of nano-sized α-Fe 2 O 3 and γ-Fe 2 O 3 crystals that agglomerated into porous particles. Significantly, in situ formed carbon could be introduced into the product (i.e., Fe 2 O 3 /C nano-composites) by simply increasing the dosage of citric acid in the precursor solution. The as-prepared Fe 2 O 3 /C nano-composite exhibited high reversible capacities of 470 and 419mAhg − 1 at the 80th and 200th cycles with a current density of 125mAg −1 , which are much higher than those of counterparts without carbon (i.e., Fe 2 O 3 nano-particles). Comparison experiments correlated with the performance improvement of Fe 2 O 3 /C nano-composites with in situ formed carbon, well-developed mesopores and relatively high specific surface areas.