In this work, a facile method for the synthesis of pure phase BiFeO3 (BFO) nanoparticles with the microwave assistance was reported. BFO nanoparticles with high pure phase can be prepared in 20 min, which is much shorter than that of the traditional hydrothermal methods. The effect of microwave heating time on the phase purity of obtained samples was investigated in detail by using X-ray diffraction (XRD). An interesting phenomenon was observed that the pervoskite-type BFO with pure phase periodically appeared during the microwave heating process. The investigation of the magnetic properties of prepared samples also revealed the periodical formation of the pure phase BFO. The sample with a microwave heating time of 20 min shows a magnetization of 1.05 emu g(-1) which is in accordance with the reported value. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.