Structural transformation and magnetic change of pure and 1% La/Nd‐doped multiferroic BiFeO3 nanoparticles were presented to study the influence of introducing rare‐earth elements at the A‐site in BiFeO3. All samples were successfully produced by the conventional hydrothermal method. SEM picture demonstrated that doping has an impact on the surface and size of particles, and the magnetic properties of BiFeO3 also have been improved, even the significant ferromagnetism was observed in the Nd‐doped sample. Though the room‐temperature X‐ray diffraction (XRD) patterns revealed the rhombohedral R3c symmetry for all samples and further identified by the X‐ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectra Bi L
3
‐edge and Fe K‐edge, the nanoscale secondary orthorhombic phase was only detected in BNFO when analyzing the doped elements according to the La and Nd L
3
‐edge XAFS spectra. The different magnetic behavior was speculated to be in connection with the orthorhombic symmetry around the Nd atom.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.