Li0.5CrxFe2.5-xO4 powders with fine sized particles were successfully synthesized by sol-gel auto combustion, using lithium nitrate, ferric nitrate, chromium nitrate, and citric acid as the starting materials. The process takes only a few minutes to obtain as-prepared Cr-substituted lithium ferrite powders. The resultant powders were annealed at 600 degrees C for 4h and investigated by thermogravimeter/differential thermal analyzer (TG/DTA), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Lattice parameter, bulk density and particle size are found to decrease with increasing Cr concentration, whereas X-ray density and porosity showed an increasing trend with the Cr content. Cation distribution indicates that the chromium ion occupy octahedral B-site. The magnetic moments calculated from Neel's molecular field model are in agreement in the experiment result, which indicates that the saturation magnetization decreases linearly from 37.36 to 4.27 emu/g with increasing Cr3+ content. However, coercivity, it increases with the Cr3+ substitution. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.