Magnetic properties and crystal structure of melt spun SmCo7-xMx (M = Hf, V, Nb, and Ta; x = 0–0.3) ribbons have been investigated. The experimental results showed that not just Hf but also V, Nb and Ta prefer to occupy 2e site in the TbCu7 structure and remarkably increase coercivity of the ribbons from 1.7 kOe for x = 0 to 10–12 kOe for x = 0.2, which would be due to the increase of magnetic anisotropy field by the element substitution. Furthermore, the effect of C addition on the magnetic properties and microstructure of melt spun Sm(Co, M)7 ribbons were also studied. A small amount of C addition in the ribbons could effectively refine their microstructure, and leads to further improvement of the magnetic properties. The optimal magnetic properties of Br = 6.9 kG, iHc = 11.8 kOe and (BH)max = 10.6 MGOe were attained for SmCo6.8Hf0.2C0.12 nanocomposites.