A silicon-carbon composite powder having Si and C distributed throughout each particle is provided. The weight ratio of carbon to silicon on the surface of a particle (C/Si)surface is greater than the weight ratio of carbon to silicon within the total particle (C/Si)total. The silicon-carbon composite powder is produced by simultaneously feeding into a reactor a gaseous stream of a SiH4, Si2H6, Si3H8 and/or organosilane and a gaseous stream of at least one hydrocarbon of ethylene, ethane, propane and acetylene and reacting the streams using plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition.