In this study, carbon-encapsulated Li4Ti5O12 particles are prepared by a facile carbon formation strategy. Under the thermal hydrolysis of acetate in Ar atmosphere, Li4Ti5O12 particles are uniformly coated by amorphous carbon layer with the thickness of 4–6nm. The electrochemical properties of Li4Ti5O12@C are characterized as high rate anode material for lithium ion batteries. Electrochemical results show that Li4Ti5O12@C can respectively deliver the reversible lithium storage capacities of 155.0, 134.7 and 60.3mAhg−1 at 20, 600 and 1500mAg−1 in a narrow working window of 1.0–2.0V. Cycled in a broad potential range of 0.5–2.0V, Li4Ti5O12@C remains the reversible charge capacities of 158.2, 134.5 and 114.7mAhg−1 at 20, 600 and 1500mAg−1 with capacity retentions of 91.5%, 97.5% and 100%, respectively. Even working between 0.0 and 2.0V, Li4Ti5O12@C can still display outstanding electrochemical properties with the reversible capacities of 220.2, 200.6 and 205.1mAhg−1 at 20, 600 and 1500mAg−1.