Taking the advantage of hierarchical nanostructures into consideration, herein a facile and template free approach to achieve hierarchical microspheres assembled from the alpha-Fe2O3 nanosheet was formulated. The followed freeze-drying treatment is employed to realize the construction of nanostructured alpha-Fe2O3/ graphene composite. The unique hierarchical structure of alpha-Fe2O3 combined with the flexible graphene layer not only effectively buffer the volume expansion during the cycling process, but also promote the transport of lithium ion and electron through three-dimensional networks when being assessed for lithium ion battery. The as-obtained composite exhibits significantly enhanced cycling stability (1850 mAhg(-1) after 190 cycles at the current of 300 mAg(-1)) and superior rate performance (around 520 mAh(-1) for the current of 5000 mAg(-1)). The obtained-results illustrate that the rational designing of the nanostructured composite can result in the fast lithium insertion/de-insertion in lithium ion batteries which mimic merits seen in high-power electrochemical capacitors. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.