We have fabricated magnetic composite nanofibers containing superparamagnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles by the electrospinning method. Highly dispersed Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized by one-step co-precipitation of Fe2+/Fe3+ under an alkaline condition with 4 wt% poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) aqueous solution as the stabilizer. Gelatin (GE) was used as a polymeric matrix for fabricating the nano composites. The prepared Fe3O4/GE composite nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. These composite nanofibers show uniform and continuous morphology with the Fe3O4 nanoparticles embedded in the nanofibers. By studying the magnetic properties of the Fe3O4/GE composite nanofibers, we confirm that the composite nanofibers possess superparamagnetic properties with a high saturated magnetization (M-s =12.87 em mu g(-1)) at room temperature. The features of this approach for getting one-dimensional magnetic nanostructure are its simplicity, effectiveness and safety. The Fe3O4/GE nanofibers with superparamagnetic properties would be potentially applied in biomedical field. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.