A non-woven electrospun SiO2 nanofiber has been developed as a lithium ion battery anode by adopting a unique binder-free approach. The electrochemical performance of resulting annealed SiO2 nanofibers, with and without carbon coating show discharge capacities of 2385 and 1513 mAh g(-1), respectively at 0.1 C rate. The carbon-coated nanofibers exhibited improved electrochemical performance and cycle stability for 100 cycles. These results demonstrate the feasibility in making the binder-free high capacity anode.