Purpose Todorokite is one common manganese oxide in soils and sediments and is commonly formed from layered Nabuserite. Aging processes can alter the physicochemical properties of freshly formed Na-buserite in natural environments. However, it is not clear whether and how aging affects the formation of todorokites. In the present paper, Na-buserite with aging treatment was employed to prepare todorokite at atmospheric pressure to investigate the effects of aging treatment of Na-buserite on the formation of todorokite. Materials and methods Four aged Na-buserite samples, which are produced through oxidation of Mn 2+ in concentrated NaOH medium by O 2 with aging for 3, 6, 9, and 12 months, were employed to investigate the effects of aging processes on the transformation from Na-buserite to todorokite by Mg 2+ -templating reaction at atmospheric pressure. The manganese oxides were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), elemental analysis, determinations of the average manganese oxidation number, infrared spectroscopy (IR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results and discussion The XRD, IR, and elemental analyses indicate that aging treatment can alter the substructure of the freshly synthesized Na-buserite. During the aging process, some of the Mn(III) may migrate into the interlayer region or disproportionate to form Mn 2+ and Mn 4+ from the layer of Na-buserite and the concomitant formation of layer vacancies. The interlayer Mn 3+ or Mn 2+ occupied above or below the layer vacancy sites and become corner-sharing octahedral. XRD analyses and TEM clearly show that the transformation from Na-buserite to todorokite was promoted by aging treatments. The alterations of substructure of aged Na-buserites can promote the rearrangement of manganese to construct a tunnel structure during the transformation from layered manganese oxides to tunnel-structure todorokite at atmospheric pressure. Conclusions The transformation from Na-buserite to todorokite was promoted by aging treatments at atmospheric pressure, and it is more suitable to explore the origination of natural todorokite in Earth surface environments using aged layered manganese oxides.