One of the effective ways to improve the conductivity and structural stability of binary metal oxide nanostructures is to tightly composite them with nano-carbon materials with excellent conductivity. However, the introduction of low density carbon materials also reduces the energy density of batteries. Therefore, we provides a new idea to enhance the lithium storage performance of carbon/binary transition metal oxide anode materials by multi-element co-doping carbon. ZnMn2O4 provides high lithium storage capacity; non-metallic heteroatoms in milk-derived carbon greatly improve the conductivity of carbon materials; metal heteroatoms in milk-derived carbon increase the density of carbon materials. Multicomponent co-doping carbon can build up the mass specific capacity, ratio performance, cyclic life and mechanical properties of binary metal oxides/porous carbon nanocomposites. As the anode materials of lithium-ion batteries, the ZnMn2O4/MC (milk-derived carbon) hybrids deliver a high reversible capacity of 1352 mAh g(-1) after 400 cycles at 0.1 A g(-1), and a remarkable long-term cyclability with 635 mAh g(-1) after 300 cycles at 1.0 A g(-1). (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.