Provided herein is a method for preparing a surface modified cathode material for lithium-ion battery, wherein the cathode material comprises lithium multi-metal composite oxide particles capped with a thin film of an oxide of the metal, wherein the lithium multi-metal composite oxide is represented by Li1+zNixMnyCo1−x−yO2; and wherein z is from 0 to 0.2; x is from 0.35 to 0.8; y is from 0.1 to 0.45; and the metal is one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Fe, Mn, Al, Mg, Zn, Ti, La, Ce, Sn, Zr, Ru and combination thereof. The cathode material disclosed herein exhibits a high initial specific capacity from 150 mAh/g to 200 mAh/g, possesses good safety characteristics and shows impressive energy retention of about 91% after 1000 cycles.