Composite nanofibers with a high Co0.8Ni0.2Fe2O4 nano-particulate content were fabricated by electrospinning. Silane coupling agent modified magnetic nanoparticles were directly dispersed in polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) solution at a mass ratio of 3:1. The surface morphologies and structures of the resulting nanofibers were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM). FESEM and TEM results showed that the average diameter of the composite nanofibers was 350 +/- 30 nm and the modified magnetic nanoparticles were evenly dispersed in polymer matrix. VSM results showed that the saturation magnetization of the composite nanofibers was up to 29.8 emu/g and that the fibers also demonstrated superparamagnetic behavior. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.