A magnetically separable core-shell-like catalyst Ni-Pd/CB is designed and synthesized via a facile sequential reduction strategy. It is found that the Pd nanocrystals with a thickness of similar to 1.67 nm and a length of similar to 7.92 nm are intimately coupled with the Ni cores and the formed core-shell-like Ni-Pd nanoparticles are well dispersed on the CB surface with much smaller particle size and narrower size distribution as compared with that of unsupported ones. The ligand-free Ni-Pd/CB nanocatalyst is evaluated for Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction and exhibits excellent catalytic activity under mild aerobic conditions without using toxic solvents and inert protective atmosphere, achieving green catalysis. The high catalytic performance of Ni-Pd/CB catalyst can be attributed to its unique core-shell-like nanostructure and the concerted effects between the individual components. The introduction of Ni not only makes the catalyst magnetically separable in a suspension system, but also significantly lowers the cost. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.