Two kinds of independent temperature and pH dual-stimuli responsive poly(methacrylic acid)/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PMAA/PNIPAM) microgels with pH sensitive PMAA cores and temperature responsive PNIPAM shells were prepared via distillation precipitation or emulsion precipitation copolymerization of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) and N, N′-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) in the presence of the PMAA microgel cores. Due to the different swelling behaviors of the core and shell materials in acetonitrile and water, the PMAA/PNIPAM microgels with the same chemical composition and crosslinking degree showed the similar morphology, but different particle size as well as drug-loading and environment responsive release performance. With doxorubicin (DOX) as model drug, the PMAA/PNIPAM-2 microgels with thinner PNIPAM shells, prepared with the fully-swollen PMAA cores via emulsion precipitation copolymerization in water, possessed higher drug-loading capacity. While the PMAA/PNIPAM-1 microgels with thicker PNIPAM shells, prepared with the partially-swollen PMAA cores via distillation precipitation copolymerization in acetonitrile, exhibited more efficient independent temperature and pH dual-stimuli responsive controlled releasing performance.