A mussel-inspired method for homogeneous and robust coating of hyaluronic acid (HA) on monodisperse magnetite nanocrystals in aqueous solution with a cancer targeting capability through CD44-HA receptor-ligand interactions was reported. HA-dopamine conjugates (HA-DN) were prepared using conventional 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC)/1-hydoxybenzotriazole (HOBT) chemistry in pH 5.5 solution to avoid irreversible oxidation of dopamine. The homogeneous coating with HA-DN was achieved by adding a solution of nanocrystals into the HA-DN solution with vortexing for 1 minute. Atomic Force Microscopy images demonstrated homogeneous coating of HA-DN on the surface of the magnetite nanocrystals. High-resolution x-ray photoelectron spectra confirmed the presence of HA-DN, the binding energy of the quaternary nitrogen in CTAB was different from that of nitrogens in N-acetyl and amide groups in HA-DN.