Silica (SiO2) is regarded as one of the most promising anode materials for lithium ion batteries owing to its high theoretical specific capacity, relatively low operation potentials, abundance, environmental benignity and low cost. However, the low intrinsic electrical conductivity and large volume change of SiO2 during the discharge/charge cycles usually results in poor electrochemical performance. In this work, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) modified SiO2/C composites have been fabricated through an in-situ chemical vapor deposition method. The results show that the electrical conductivity of the SiO2/C/CNTs is visibly enhanced through a robust connection between the CNTs and SiO2/C particles. Compared with the pristine SiO2 and SiO2/C composites, the SiO2/C/CNTs composites display a high initial capacity of 1267.2 mA h g(-1). Besides, an excellent cycling stability with the capacity of 315.7 mA h g(-1) is achieved after 1000th cycles at a rate of 1 A g(-1). The significantly improved electrochemical properties of the SiO2/C/CNTs composites are mainly attributed to the formation of three dimensional CNT networks in the SiO2/C substrate, which can not only shorten the Li-ion diffusion path but also relieve the volume change during the lithium-ion insertion/extraction processes. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.