Iron oxide has been considered as one of the most promising anode materials due to its high theoretical capacity, low cost and environmental friendliness. However, few simple and effective method is explored for preparing iron oxides with high electrochemical performance via alleviating the volume change and agglomeration of active particles. In this work, FeOx/carbon/graphene composites are fabricated by a facile solution combustion synthesis within several minutes in one step. Characterization demonstrates that FeOx nanoparticles are well-dispersed in the graphene matrix. The presence of graphene effectively alleviates the agglomeration of FeOx nanoparticles, and accommodates the volume changes during the cycling process, thereby resulting in the excellent electrochemical performance. FeOx/carbon/graphene (31.4 wt.% graphene) delivers a higher discharge capacity of 824 mAh g (1) after 100 cycles at 0.4 A g (1), in comparison to the value of 301 mAh g (1) for the composite without graphene. This easily prepared FeOx/carbon/graphene composite with excellent electrochemical performance can be considered as one promising anode material used for lithium-ion batteries. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.