The Na abundance and its low cost make Na ion batteries (NIBs) promising alternatives for Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) in large scale energy storage application. However, the size of Na ions is larger than that of Li ion, making graphite no longer suitable as anode material. In addition, the higher redox potential of Na⁺/Na (vs. that of Li⁺/Li) indicates a smaller voltage window achievable (when similar cathode is employed). These factors urge the search for anode material of high capacity for NIBs. Among various material choices, P based material caught much research attention in recent years. Phosphorus is a most promising candidates for anode applications in sodium ion batteries due to its highest theoretical capacity （2596 mA h/g）and reasonably low redox voltage (~0.6 V vs. Na/Na⁺), implying achievable high energy density. Nevertheless, experimentally pure phosphorous anode suffers from fast capacity decay during cycling and low initial coulomb efficiency. These are caused by intrinsic characteristics of the phosphorous, including (1) low electrical conductivity (~10-14 S/cm); (2) instability of the Na-P phases; and (3) electrode pulverization due to sodiation induced volume expansion (390% to its original volume). In the present work, we will discuss two different approaches (forming metal phosphides or dispersing phosphorus in conducting matrix) that can improve the electrochemical properties of the anode. We show that although phosphide formation can largely stabilize the electrode for longer cycle life, the stable chemical bonds of metal-phosphorous make the sodiation difficult, and thus significantly reduce the capacity of the electrode. Manipulation of material chemistry may lead to an optimized balance between the stabilization of P and their active sodiation, resulting in high capacity, high rate performance and long cycle life. The authors are grateful to the financial support from GRF of RGC under project No. 14316716