Li4Ti5O12 nanosheet and Li4Ti5O12 nanosheet/CNT nanocomposite were prepared in ethyl alcohol medium by a low-cost hydrothermal method. The CNTs are incorporated into the Li4Ti5O12 nanosheet homogenously, and then provide a highly conductive network for electron transportation. Li4Ti5O12 nanosheet/CNT composite with 4 wt.% CNTs exhibits excellent rate capability and superior cycle life between 1 and 2.5 V. Li4Ti5O12 nano-sheet/CNTs (4 wt.%) shows superior rate performance with discharge capacities of 137.5 mAh g(-1) at 2 C charge-discharge rate after 90 cycles and 128.3 mAh g(-1) at 3 C charge-discharge rate after 120 cycles. The significantly improved rate capability of the Li4Ti5O12 nanosheet/CNT electrodes can be mainly ascribed to the reduced resistance and polarization and improved lithium diffusion coefficient. The same strategy adopted in this work could be helpful to develop advanced electrochemical energy storage systems with long cycle life and high rate performance. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.