A novel approach for the synthesis of Ag-loaded Fe3O4@C nanospheres (Ag-Fe3O4@C) was successfully developed. The catalysts possessed a carbon-coated magnetic core and grew active silver nanoparticles on the outer shell using hydrazine monohydrate as the AgNO3 reductant in ethanol. The morphology, inner structure, and magnetic properties of the as-prepared composites were studied with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), fourier translation infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) techniques. Catalytic activity was investigated by degrading rhodamine B (RhB) in the designed experiment. The obtained products were monodispersed and bifunctional with high magnetization, as well as exhibited excellent catalytic activity toward organic dye with 98% of RhB conversion within 20 min in the presence of NaBH4. The product also exhibited convenient magnetic separability and maintained high catalytic activity after six cycle runs. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.