Polycrystalline Ni 1−x Zn x Fe 1.49 Ga 0.5 Sm 0.01 O 4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5) spinel ferrite powders were prepared using standard ceramic method. Structural and magnetic properties of the sintered samples were investigated using X-ray powder diffraction, Mössbauer effect spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer. X-ray analysis confirmed the formation of single phase cubic spinel ferrites for all samples. The cation distribution obtained from the Mössbauer effect measurements suggested that Sm 3+ ions substituted iron in the octahedral [B] site and increase the magnetism in the studied samples. On the other hand, Ga 3+ ions replaced iron in both tetrahedral (A) sites and octahedral [B] sites. For x ≤ 0.3, Zn 2+ ions are introduced to (A) sites and unusually for higher Zn content, x > 0.3, they distribute in both (A) and [B] sites and suppress magnetism in this system. The cation distribution obtained from the Mössbauer effect measurements explains well the change in the values of both lattice parameter (a) and the saturation magnetization (M s ).