It is still a challenging global task for oil/water separation. Here we fabricate superhydrophobic magnetic cellulose sponge (SMCE) that can be used to separate free oil/water mixtures and surfactant-stabilized W/O emulsions. The simple modification includes only two steps: a thin layer of ferroferric oxide (Fe3O4) was coated on cellulose sponge surface via codeposition method, and subsequently magnetic cellulose sponge was modified with hexadecyltrimethoxysilane, which could react with Fe3O4 or hydroxyl groups of cellulose. The purpose of coating Fe3O4 is to increase the roughness of the surface and recycle the sample by magnetic force. SMCE could separate oil–water mixtures with a high separation efficiency and good reusability. The sample is green, low cost, and environmental friendly, which makes it a promising candidate to be used in oil–water separation.

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