The chemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO) usually involves highly toxic reducing agents which are injurious to the environment and human health. In the present study, chrysanthemum extract, as a natural and harmless reductant, mediated facile and green approach for the preparation of reduced GO (RGO) was reported for the first time. The reduction experiments of GO were conducted at room temperature, and the obtained RGO was few layered and exhibited high carbon to oxygen ratio (4.96) as demonstrated by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The mechanism for removing of oxygen-containing functional groups from GO with chrysanthemum extract was proposed. The features of environmentally friendly and cost-effectively endow this approach with great promise in the preparation of various graphene-based materials, especially for biomaterials. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.