The ongoing search for new noble metal free catalysts with excellent catalytic performance to replace homogeneous catalysts with difficult synthesis, separating and recycling and also expensive heterogeneous catalysts has been viewed as an important strategy to promote the development of hydrogen generation from formic acid. In this study, we reported the facile fabrication of selenium doped graphene/CoFe2O4 hybrid materials which exhibited excellent catalytic activity and magnetic recyclability for dehydrogenation of formic acid. Besides facilitating the catalyst isolation, CoFe2O4 nanoparticles have crucial role on the catalytic activity of the as-obtained material. Our results confirmed that combining CoFe2O4 with graphene is an effective strategy to inhibit metal oxide aggregation and synergistically improve the catalytic activity. Moreover, it is also demonstrated that selenium with large atomic size and high polarizability can enhance the catalytic activity of selenium doped graphene/CoFe2O4 hybrid materials. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.