Although SnO2-based nanomaterials used to be considered as being extraordinarily versatile for application to nanosensors, microelectronic devices, lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors and other devices, the functionalities of SnO2-based nanomaterials are severely limited by their intrinsic vulnerabilities. Facile electrospinning was used to prepare SnO2 nanofibers coated with a protective carbon layer. The mechanical properties of individual core-shell-structured SnO2@C nanofibers were investigated by atomic force microscopy and the finite element method. The elastic moduli of the carbon-coated SnO2 nanofibers remarkably increased, suggesting that coating SnO2 nanofibers with carbon could be an effective method of improving their mechanical properties.