Most of the newer forms of carbon materials being demonstrated as potential anodes for lithium-ion batteries suffer a serious drawback in terms of their commercial perspectives due to their failure in the retention of a flat plateau in the charging/discharging profile. Here we present a facile and low-cost approach for the fabrication of solvent-free, binder-free anode material for the practical usage. A filter paper was coated with graphite using a pencil lead followed by pyrolysis (PyPF)and tested for its electrochemical performance. Galvanostatic charge/discharge experiments as carried out in half-cell configuration exhibited a specific capacity of 342 mAhg−1 with a constant plateau at 156 mAg−1 with 98% coulombic efficiency. This clearly shows the potential and competency of the material to be an inexpensive commercial anode. The role of graphite coating on filter paper was clearly manifested in the comparative studies with only pyrolyzed filter paper. Furthermore, full cell studies were performed using PyPF as anode and carbon coated LiFePO4 as a cathode. A specific capacity of 120 mAhg−1 at C/5 rate with 141 WhKg−1 energy density with the retention of constant plateau and minimal polarization further emphasize the proficiency of PyPF as an anode for a commercial lithium-ion battery. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd