A novel kind of alpha-Fe2O3-filled ordered mesoporous carbon nanorods has been synthesized by a facial hydrothermal method. Compared with dendritic alpha-Fe2O3 micropines, both a broader effective absorption range-from 10.5 GHz to 16.5 GHz with reflection loss (RL) less than -10 dB-and a thinner matching thickness of 2.0 mm have been achieved in the frequency range 2-18 GHz. The enhanced microwave absorption properties evaluated by the RL are attributed to the enhanced dielectric loss resulting from the intrinsic physical properties and special structures.