The uniform different morphologies MnFe2O4, including cube, truncated cube, polyhedron and octahedron, were successfully synthesized via a solvothermal route using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide. The results of control experiments revealed that the concentration of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide was an important factor, which affected the morphology and crystallization of MnFe2O4 submicro-crystals. All the prepared samples exhibited soft-magnetic behavior at room temperature. Especially, the coercivity of MnFe2O4 polyhedron with 200 nm diameter was 11.9 Oe, which was among the lowest values reported so far. Moreover, MnFe2O4 submicro-crystals with special morphologies demonstrated higher reversible capacity (about 1000 mAh g(-1)) and different cycle performances. After 50 cycles, polyhedron structure remained 428 mAh/g. The MnFe2O4 would have a potential application as anode material for lithium ion batteries. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.