The present work reports a systematic study of using carboxymethylated cellulose (CMC) as water-borne binder to produce Li₄Ti₅O₁₂-based anodes for manufacture of high rate performance lithium ion batteries. When the LTO-to-CB-to-CMC mass ratio is carefully optimized to be 8:1:0.57, the special capacity of the resulting electrodes is 144 mAh·g⁻¹ at 10 C and their capacity retention was 97.7% after 1000 cycles at 1 C and 98.5% after 500 cycles at 5 C, respectively. This rate performance is comparable or even better than that of the electrolytes produced using conventional, organic, polyvinylidene fluoride binder.