Carbon-coated NiO/reduced graphene oxide (NiO/rGO) composites with NiO nanoparticles (similar to 5 nm) homogeneously distributed and carbon skeletons on the surface were constructed in this work. Graphene oxide (GO) provided abundant surface nucleation sites benefiting nanosized NiO nanoparticle formation and a conductive carbon skeleton was prepared simply by carbonization of cost-effective glucose. The carbon-coated NiO/rGO composites show enhanced electrochemical performance and exhibited 1230, 936 and 880 F g(-1) at 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0Ag(-1).