It is crucial to cultivate a a novel, convenient, and quick colorimetric approach to monitor phenol owing to its huge damage to people, biomass, and the environment. In this study, a rambutan-like nanocomposite CuFe2O4/N-GQDs@MnO2 with the magnetic CuFe2O4 as the central core and MnO2 as the outer shell was synthesized and highlighted. The introduction of nitrogen doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) could not only alter the morphology of nanocomposite, but also link two different metallic oxides tightly. It is demonstrated that the materials prepared have good oxidase-like activity and can catalyze the coupling reaction of 4-aminoantipyrine (4-AAP) and phenol to yield a pink product in the absence of H2O2. Drawing upon this occurrence, a simple, low-cost, and highly selective colorimetric detection platform for phenol was developed. The instrument exhibits a linear response between 5μM and 200μM, with a sensitivity threshold of 0.18μM. In addition, the synthesized materials have good recyclability for the magnetism, indicating that CuFe2O4/N-GQDs@MnO2 nanocomposites have great potential applications in the detection of phenol.