We herein report the development of multifunctional folic acid (FA)-targeted Fe3O4 @ Au nanostars(NSs) for targeted multi-mode magnetic resonance (MR)/computed tomography (CT)/photoacoustic(PA) imaging and photothermal therapy (PTT) of tumors. In this present work, citric acid-stabilized Fe3O4/Ag composite nanoparticles prepared by a mild reduction route were utilized as seeds and exposed to the Au growth solution to induce the formation of Fe3O4 @ Au core/shell NSs.