BackgroundSudan red dyes are widely used as color additions in various fields. Due to their potential carcinogenicity and large consumption, they have absorbed much more attention and become a research hot topic. There have been a few of existing methods for their analysis from samples; however, it is of great importance to develop simple, sensitive, and low-cost analytical method for public health and safety. This article described a new method based on magnetic Fe@NiAl-layered double hydroxides for enrichment of Sudan red dyes in combination with high-performance liquid chromatography.ResultsThe as-prepared magnetic Fe@NiAl-layered double hydroxides (Fe@NiAl-LDHs) exhibited good adsorption capacity for Sudan red dyes, and could be used as an effective adsorbent for preconcentration of three Sudan Red dyes from environmental water samples. The proposed method provided low limits of detection in the range of 0.002–0.005 μg L−1 with magnetic solid-phase extraction in combination with high-performance liquid chromatography.ConclusionThe developed method utilized the easy to prepare magnetic materials as adsorbents and conventional analytical instrument and provided high sensitivity, which provided a robust and low consumption of toxic organic solvent alternative method. The results of present study are of great value for interested laboratories to monitor the level of Sudan red dyes in water samples or develop sensitive determination methods to monitor other pollutants at trace level in environmental waters.