Fe3O4/carbon nanocomposite has been prepared by a facile chemical method, and characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The fluorescent and magnetic properties of the sample were investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy and vibrating-sample magnetometer, respectively. The results indicate that the Fe3O4/carbon nanocomposite exhibit good photoluminescent (emission ranging from 425 to 550 nm) and strong magnetic (saturation magnetization of 44.2 emu/g) properties. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.