The work aims to prepare a superhydrophobic copper foam for oil/water separation. Nanoscale rough structure surfaces were prepared based upon in-situ growth of ZnO crystals on copper foam surfaces in deposition method. Then a superhydrophobic copper foam was fabricated by modifying the surface with triethoxyoctadecylsilane. Surface morphology, chemical composition and wetting behavior of the copper foam were characterized by SEM, XRD and contact angle tester. The fabricated copper foam had superhydrophobic surface with water contact angle of about 150?, and separation efficiency on different oil-water mixtures was over 95%. Furthermore, the superhydrophobic copper foam showed excellent mechanical abrasion resistance. Separation efficiency of the superhydrophobic copper foam on acidic or alkaline oil-water mixtures was slightly decreased by adjusting alkalinity or acidity of oil-water mixtures. After continuous separation for 30 cycles, separation efficiency was not significantly decreased, and water contact angle was still over 130?, and good durability was acquired. ZnO crystals can be prepared on the surface of copper foam in the method of in-situ deposition and modified by low surface energy silane. The fabricated superhydrophobic copper foam can separate various oil/water mixtures effectively, and separation efficiency slightly after cyclic seperation. The modified copper foam is of potential application value to large-scale separation of oil/water mixtures.