Design and preparation of efficient and low cost electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is vitally important for the commercialization of alkaline direct methanol fuel cell (ADMFC). Herein, porous CoS1.097-C composite nanowire is prepared by one-step in-situ pyrolyzing Co-nitrilotriacetic acid (Co-NTA) precursor in Ar atmosphere with adding S powder. The obtained CoS1.097-C composite nanowire gathered by carbon encapsulated CoS1.097 nanoparticles are further analyzed by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TEM, Raman, BET and XPS. The optimized CoS1.097-C composite nanowire catalyst shows the onset potential of 0.90 V and half-wave potential of 0.79 V with the acquired tafel slope of 57.7 dec(-1) for ORR in 0.1 M KOH. Further studies indicate that the effective four-electron pathway contributes to excellent ORR activity. Moreover, the CoS1.097-C composite nanowire catalyst exhibits good durability and methanol tolerance over the commercial Pt/C. This work provides a general strategy for developing carbon-based transition metal sulfide nanocomposite as cathode in ADMFC. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.