A highly efficient Pd/Fe3O4@C catalytic system has been developed for direct reductive amination of carbonyl compounds with nitroarenes in aqueous reaction medium. The catalyst was characterized by TEM, XRD, XPS and VSM. It was found that the catalyst showed a high activity for the one-pot direct reductive amination of aldehydes with nitroarenes in the presence of molecular hydrogen at mild temperature. Besides, the catalyst could be recovered in a facile manner from the reaction mixture and recycled six times without obvious loss in activity.