Metallic copper foam is a kind of electromagnetic shielding material of good overall performance. The addition of Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into copper foams may improve the electromagnetic shielding performance. Copper foams reinforced by embedded CNTs with uniform dispersion were prepared through combination of electroless deposition and electrodeposition on melamine foam templates. The effects of electrodeposition time, CNTs content and subsequent heat treatments on the composite coating mophology were studied based on electric conduction through silver electroless deposition of base form. The electromagnetic shielding performance of CNTs/Cu composite foams were tested with vector network analyzer. With AgNO3 concentration of 20 g/L and electroless deposition temperature of 25 ℃, the silver layer was uniform and dense. The porosity of the composite foams reduced with increase of electro-deoposition time. The composite foam plating was dense and continuous with CNTs content of 1.134 vol%. The CNTs were distributed uniformly without agglomeration. After heat treatments, the composite coating was smoother and denser. Within the range of 8.2~12.4 GHz, the average electromagnetic shielding SE of the CNTs/Cu composite foam was 43.07 dB, which was averagely 18.77 dB higher than that of the pure copper foam. The CNTs are uniformly embedded into the copper foam frame structure. It can significantly improve the absorption loss and reflection loss, and thus greatly improve the overall electromagnetic shielding performance of composite foams.