Nitrogen-doped carbon coated Li4Ti5O12 (NC–LTO) nanocomposite as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is prepared with acetyl glucosamine as carbon source by pre-coating process combined with ball milling. X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy are used to characterize the NC–LTO materials. The results show that NC–LTO samples exhibit the obvious improvements in rate capability and cycling performance compared with the LTO samples coated by carbon (C–LTO) derived from sugar and pure LTO samples. The carbon pre-coating process could significantly decrease the agglomeration of TiO2 precursors and the uniformly coated nitrogen-doped carbon increase the interfacial stability and electric conductivity of LTO. At the charge–discharge rate of 0.2 C, 5.0 C and 10.0 C and 20.0 C, the discharge capacities of NC–LTO samples are 167.4, 146.3, 133.4 and 128.2 mAh g−1, respectively. After 1000 cycles at 1 C, its capacity retention is 95.9% with nearly ignored capacity fading.