Nanoporous nickel phosphate (nano-NiPh) is synthesized using a hydrothermal-based method from nickel phosphate precursors. It is applied for electrocatalytic oxidation of formaldehyde (FAL) in alkaline solution. The produced material is characterized using different techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron micrograph (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern. The nano-NiPh particles nearly reveal one-dimensional nanosize (200 x 800 nm) and demonstrate nanopores of similar to 30 nm size. The chemical identity is found to be Ni-3(PO4)(2)center dot 8H(2)O. A nano-NiPh modified glassy carbon electrode (GC/nano-NiPh) is characterized by various techniques including cyclic voltanunetry (CV), chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The fabricated electrode demonstrates significant electrocatalytic activity towards the electrochemical oxidation of formaldehyde. The activity and stability of the electrode are discussed and some transport and kinetic parameters for FAL electrochemical oxidation have been determined.