A promising nickel cobaltite oxide (NiCo 2 O 4 ) composite electrode material was successfully synthesized by a sol-gel method and followed by a simple sintering process. The microstructure and surface morphology of NiCo 2 O 4 modified by hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and polyvinyl alcohol were physically characterized by powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Meanwhile, electrochemical performance was widely investigated in 2 M KOH aqueous electrolyte using cyclic voltammetry, galvanostatic charge-discharge test, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The results show that evident porous microstructure was successfully fabricated by CTAB. The NiCo 2 O 4 controlled by CTAB exhibited highly specific capacitance of 1,440 Fg −1 at a current density of 5 mAcm −2 . Remarkably, it still displays desirable cycle retention of 94.1 % over 1,000 cycle numbers at a current density of 20 mAcm −2 . The excellent electrochemical performance suggests its potential application in electrode material for electrochemical capacitors.