Metal oxides nanoparticles play significant roles in catalysis, heavy metal ions adsorption and pigments industries, but their intrinsic hydrophilicity greatly restricts their applications in harsh environments where even tiny amounts of water would deteriorate materials. Herein, we reported a facile one-step method to prepare superhydrophobic urchin-like beta-FeOOH nanoparticles without any post-treatments. Interestingly, both the urchin-like micro-nano structure and modification of low surface energy materials assembled synchronously during the reaction due to the dual function of sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS) on the morphology and surface composition of synthesized nanoparticles. Accordingly, a plausible growth mechanism of superhydrophobic urchin-like nanoparticles was validly proposed based on the structure-directing effect and subsequent graft of SDS supported by convictive experiment data. These synthesized powders were substrate-independent, therefore could be flexibly applied on various substrates via commercially available products. The superhydrophobicity of synthesized powders processed excellent durability, such as underwater stability, anti-UV irradiation, damp heat resistance, anti-scratch and thermal stability. This water-based preparation method which is eco-friendly and safe to mass production would provide a new simple and fast route to synthesize superhydrophobic nanoparticles with hierarchical structures. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.