Coal tar pitch (CTP) has become an ideal choice in the preparation of anode precursors for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) because of its abundant carbon content, competitive pricing and adjustable structure properties. In this paper, sulfurized pitch-based carbon (SPC-800) was obtained by allowing CTP to react with sulfur at 350 °C and subsequently achieve carbonization at 800 °C. SPC-800 was more disordered and had a larger layer spacing than carbonized CTP (PC-800). Upon utilization as an anode for LIBs, SPC-800 possessed a higher reversible specific capacity (478.1 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 A g⁻¹), while utilization in SIBs displayed a capacity of 220.9 mAh g⁻¹ at 20 mA g⁻¹. This work is an important guide to the design of high-performance anodes suitable for use with both LIBs and SIBs.