An efficient method is demonstrated to synthesize reduced graphene oxide/CoO nanowires (rGO/CoO) mutually-supporting porous structure, which is in situ prepared by annealing self-assembled graphene oxide (GO)/Co(CO3)0.5(OH)·0.11H2O nanowires composite in N2 atmosphere. The CoO nanowires are uniformly and tightly anchored on the rGO sheet surface, preventing the aggregation of the CoO nanowires and the restacking of rGO sheets. As an anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), rGO/CoO electrode displays excellent electrochemical performance including a high reversible capacity of 994mAhg−1 even after 100 cycles with 96.3% capacity retention of the initial discharge capacity, super rate capability (718, 577, 504, 388 and 262mAhg−1 at 0.8, 3.2, 5, 7 and 10C, respectively, 1C=1Ag−1) and extremely excellent cycling performance at high rates (621mAhg−1 at 1C after 620 cycles; 520mAhg−1 at 3C even after 750 cycles).