Hard magnetic composites-hollow microsphere (core)/titania ( intermediate layer)/barium ferrite ( magnetic shell) (M/T/B) were prepared by wet-chemical method. Barium ferrite nanoparticles were directly coated on the rutile titania-coated hollow microsphere forming light hard magnetic composites using sol-gel technique. The prepared composites were characterized with FESEM, EDS, XRD and vibrating sample magnetometry. The composites are composed of barium ferrite, hematite, titania and mullite. For the samples with 40 wt.% barium ferrite, its specific saturation magnetization with titania is increased to 17.88 emu/g in comparison with 9.6 emu/g without titania. The function of titania in the composites is also discussed. (c) 2007 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.