The fabrication of submicron size microsphere from 8-Phe-4 poly(ester amide) (PEA) using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the emulsion was reported. The biodegradable microspheres were prepared by an oil-in-water emulsion/solvent evaporation technique, and PVA was used as the emulsion. Furthermore, the emulsion PVA was electrospun into nanofibrous mats, and 8-Phe-4 PEA microspheres were entrapped in the resultant mats. The dual functions of PVA to fabricate ideal nanofibrous mats which can entrap microspheres in them and to obtain 8-Phe-4 microspheres as emulsion in their potential application were demonstrated. The anti-cancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) was encapsulated in the 8-Phe-4 amino acid-based PEA microspheres and the entrapment efficiency is almost 100%. At the same time, the DOX can be controlled released in PBS solution and in a-chymotrypsin solution. The cytotoxicity of PVA, PVA mats-entrapped 8-Phe-4 microspheres and PVA mats-entrapped DOX-loaded 8-Phe-4 microspheres, was investigated. Hela cells were used to test the cytotoxicity of the DOX that released from the PVA mats-entrapped DOX-loaded 8-Phe-4 microspheres for 2 days, and the cell viability is below 30% when the 8-Phe-4 microspheres concentration is 1 mg/mL. It demonstrated that the PVA mats-entrapped DOX-loaded 8-Phe-4 microspheres have a potential biomedical application.