Nanoporous (NP) TiO2/Co3O4 composite is straightforwardly fabricated by dealloying the well-designed TiCoAl ternary alloy in mild condition without external oxidation procedures. Upon etching the TiCoAl alloy the Ti and Co atoms undergo the spontaneous oxidation to form the TiO2/Co3O4 composite characterized by uniform nanoporous architecture with the pore size mainly distributed around 50 nm. Electrochemical measurements indicate that the NP-TiO2/Co3O4 composite has superior lithium-storage performance as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) compared with the pure NP-TiO2. Especially, the NP-TiO2/Co3O4 composite exhibits enhanced specific capacity, superior cycling stability for 500 cycles, and higher rate capability than pure NP-TiO2. The interconnected network backbone and rich porosity in NP-TiO2/Co3O4 composite effectively buffers the volume change as well facilitates the diffusion of Li+, while the combination of Co3O4 is favorable for improving the capacity of the TiO2 sample. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.