A simple strategy which combines the treatment of industrial wastewater with the preparation of electrode materials was proposed in this work. And the industrial wastewater is the only iron source for the material preparation. The preparation method in this work is facile, economical and environment-friendly which includes two simple steps of low-temperature aqueous solution and one-step calcination. Moreover two kinds of high performance Fe2O3 anode materials (alpha-/gamma-Fe2O3 nano spheres, respectively) with isomerism can be obtained by simply adjusting calcination temperatures. Both of the alpha-Fe2O3 and gamma-Fe2O3 nanospheres show good lithium storing reversibility when used as anode materials in LIBs. Furthermore the as-prepared alpha-Fe2O3 nano-electrode with lower electrochemical impedance exhibit a far better electrochemical performance (about 74.1% capacity retention (calculated based on the lithiation) from the 1st to 5th cycle) than the gamma-one (only 39.0% capacity retention from the 1st to 5th cycle). The results here provide economical yet environment-friendly strategies for developing advanced anode material demanding both high energy and long lifespan for full-cell lithium battery. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.