As an anode material in lithium ion battery,the Sn-Co/C composite electrode materials have been successfully synthesized by hydrothermal and sol-gel methods,respectively.The resultant composites were mainly composed of Sn-based oxides,nanometer Sn-Co alloy and carbon.Carbon and Co,acting as buffer materials,can accommodate to the large volume change of active Sn during the discharge-charge process,thus improving the cycling stability.Although charge/discharge curves revealed the excellent cycle performance for samples synthesized by both methods,composites obtained by the sol-gel showed a better dispersion effect of nanoparticles on the carbon matrix and possessed much more improved stable capacity with*624.9 mAh g-1over 100 cycles and that by hydrothermal method only exhibited*299.3 mAh g-1.Therefore,the Sn-Co/C composites obtained by sol-gel synthesis method could be a perfect candidate for anode material of Li-ion storage battery. As an anode material in lithium ion battery, the Sn-Co / C composite electrode materials have been synthesized synthesized by hydrothermal and sol-gel methods, respectively. The resultant composites were mainly composed of Sn-based oxides, nanometer Sn-Co alloy and carbon.Carbon and Co, acting as buffer materials, can accommodate to large volume change of active Sn during the discharge-charge process, thereby improving the cycling stability. Although charge / discharge curves revealed the excellent cycle performance for samples synthesized by both methods , composites obtained by the sol-gel showed a better dispersion effect of nanoparticles on the carbon matrix and possessed much more improved stable capacity with * 624.9 mAh g-1 over 100 cycles and that by hydrothermal method only exhibited * 299.3 mAh g-1.Therefore , the Sn-Co / C composites obtained by sol-gel synthesis method could be a perfect candidate for an anode material of Li-ion storage battery.