A series of hard carbons with different porous structure are prepared and tested for an anode of lithium ion batteries. Nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms and transmission electron microscope images reveal that the porous carbons prepared using different template exhibit typical mesoporous structure and hierarchical porous structure respectively. The results of charge-discharge tests and diffusion coefficients show that the electrochemical behavior is strongly dependent on the porous texture of carbons. The obtained hierarchical porous carbons exhibit a highest capacity of 503.5 mAh g(-1) at 0.2C rate and still keep a capacity of 332.8 mAh g(-1) at 5C rate. The enhanced electrode performance of the porous hard carbons derives from better structural flexibility and shorter diffusion pathways in the advantageous nano-porous texture. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.