Heterogeneous catalysts are more prominent rather than homogenous catalysts since they are simply separated from products. To improve and develop heterogeneous catalysts, two core–shell magnetic nanocatalysts are prepared by anchoring of Cu and Ce complexes on the surface of Fe3O4, then the efficiency of the obtained catalysts are tested toward both chemical and electrochemical oxidation of sulfide and alcohol derivatives. Characterization of mentioned catalysts was performed by using FT-IR, XRD, EDX and SEM. The obtained results confirm that the reported method has outstanding advantages such as short reaction time, high yield, easy operation, easy separation, inexpensive and non-toxic material and chemical and thermal stability.