The magnetite ferrofluids of which solvents are water or kerosene have been prepared by making surfactant absorbed on the surface of the magnetite which have been synthesized by air oxidation of Fe(OH)2 at pH 11 and 75$^{circ}C$, and their basic properties have been measured by XRD, SEM, DTA, TG, viscometer, magnetometer and B-H tracer. The results are as follows ; 1) The shape of magnetite prepared by air oxidation is found to be sphere-like shape and its particle size is smaller than 200A. 2) The maximum amount of sodium oleate adsorbed on the surface of magnetite is about 20% in the weight of the magnetite including the adsorbed sodium oleate. And when magnetite is well dispersed into solvent, R(the weight ratio of the added sodium oleate to Fe3O4) is 0.40-0.48. 3) The dispersion ratio, the viscosity and the magnetization of magnetite ferrofluid are constant regardless of the added amount of sodium oleate above R=0.40-0.48. 4) The magnetic hysteresis curves of magnetite ferrofluid show superparamagnetism-like behavior.