“Grafting from” surface‐initiated nitroxide‐mediated radical polymerization (SI‐NMRP) techniques were used to synthesize poly[styrene‐co‐(maleic anhydride)] copolymer brushes from the Fe3O4 surfaces. Well‐defined polymer chains were grown from the Fe3O4 surfaces to yield particles with a Fe3O4 core and a polymer outer layer. The observed narrow molecular weight distributions (Mw/Mn), linear kinetic plots and linear plots of molecular weight (Mn) versus conversion for the free polymer indicated that the chain growth from the Fe3O4 surface was a controlled process by adding an excess of 2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidinyloxy (TEMPO). The modified nanoparticles were subjected to detailed characterization using XRD, TEM, FT‐IR, and TGA. The analyses of vibration sample magnetometer (VSM) verified that the nanoparticles owned good magnetic property. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2013. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers