In this study, reduced graphene oxide (RGO) supported Ni nanoparticles were synthesized by a facile in-situ refluxing approach using triethylene glycol as both reductive and dispersing agent. The as synthesized RGO/Ni nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy, which revealed that Ni nanoparticles with hexagonal close-packed structure were homogeneously dispersed on the surface of RGO sheets. The catalytic activity and electrochemical properties of the RGO/Ni nanocomposites were investigated. It is found that the RGO/Ni nanocomposites exhibit markedly enhanced catalytic activity toward the reduction of p-nitrophenol by NaBH4, which is comparable to noble metal catalyst. The RGO/Ni nanocomposites also exhibited excellent electrocatalytic response to glucose. The linear range, detection limit and sensitivity were estimated to be 0.01-3.0 mM (R-2 = 0.997), 2.8 mu M and 535.258 mu A mM(-1) cm(-2), respectively. It is expected that this facile method presented here could be extended to synthesize other RGO/metal nanocomposites with various functions. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.