Anatase TiO2 nanostructure coated and composited with N-doped carbon was simply fabricated by using acrylonitrile as carbon source. The carbon-coated composite with the TiO2 nanoparticles dispersed uniformly in the carbon matrix exhibits a high reversible capacity of 223.7 mAh g−1 after cycling 100 times at 100 mA g−1, excellent cycling stability and superior high rate performance (243.5, 219.0, 198.5, 175.8, 153.4 and 130.9 mAh g−1 at 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600 and 3200 mA g−1, respectively) when the carbonization temperature is around 550 °C. The synergistic effect of the combined coating and compositing the N-doped carbon is responsible for the outstanding electrochemical performance.