Refined structured tin dioxide gets the amount of attraction because of its low cost and stability. The C@SnO2 nanospheres with mesoporous structures were produced using the hard template method in this work. The C@SnO2 is primarily gained attributed to the dehydration condensation of C6H12O6 and the hydrolysis of SnCl4 ·5H2O. The morphology of the C@SnO2 was analyzed by physical characterization and the diameter of the obtained C@SnO2 was around 138 nm. When C@SnO2 was applied to lithium-ion batteries as anode material, it performed outstanding electrochemical properties, with a capacity of 735 and 539 mA h g− 1 maintained at 1000 and 2000 mA g− 1, respectively. Furthermore, it exhibits favorable discharge/ charge cycle stability. This is probably because of the more chemically redox active sites provided by C@SnO2 nanocomposites and it also allows fast ion diffusion and electron migration.