NiO nanowalls are directly grown on porous Ni foam via a facile electrochemical corrosion method and subsequent annealing, which show excellent cycle stability and rate capability as anode for lithium ion batteries. It delivers initial discharge and charge capacity of 1029 and 761 mAh g−1 at 0.15C, maintaining of 721 and 704 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles. After 60 cycles at various rates from 0.06 to 10C, the discharge capacity of the NiO/Ni can gradually restore when lowering the charge/discharge, finally arriving at 745 mAh g−1 after 30 cycles at 0.06C. The excellent electrochemical performance of the NiO/Ni electrode is relevant to a novel electrochemical reconstruction in cycling, which can be described as the initial formation of a large number of nanosized particles and the subsequent reassembly of these nanoparticles into a unique porous architecture.