Nanostructured Fe70Co30 alloy nanoparticles have been synthesized by using different physical and chemical routes. The evolution of microstructure was investigated by XRD, FESEM and TEM, and revealed that a body-centered cubic structure resulted for the prepared alloy nanoparticles. Magnetic investigations of these samples revealed that samples prepared by physical routes showing superior soft-magnetic properties than chemical routes samples. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.