A series of soft magnetic nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4) samples were successfully synthesised at 1000 degrees C over a period of 2 h through the molten salt synthesis method using iron oxide red as iron-bearing raw materials. After the cubic spine) structured NiFe2O4 was prepared, the lattice parameter, oxygen positional parameter, M (Fe, Ni)-O bond length, and distribution of cations at tetrahedral and octahedral sites were determined using XRD. The fitting results of Raman spectroscopy demonstrated that the cations of Fe and Ni constituted complex compounds (MO4) at the tetrahedral site. The morphologies of the synthesised NiFe2O4 samples displayed different shapes and sizes when different molten salts were used as the medium. In addition, energy dispersive spectroscopy was used to analyse the composition of the samples, which indicated the samples were composed of Ni, Fe, and O. The highest value of saturation magnetisation (44 emu/g) was obtained with the NaCl-Na2SO4 molten salts. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.