Vanadium nitride was synthesized by the microwave heating process with V2O5 (or ammonium metavanadate) as starting materials and carbon black as reductant in N2 atmosphere. The effects of the ratio of the carbon black to V2O5, nitridation temperature, nitridation time, N2 flux and the mixture pressure on the nitrogen content of the product were investigated when the reduction time was 60 min and the highest reduction temperature 933 K. Results show that the product of vanadium nitride has 12.6% nitrogen, 79.2% vanadium and 4.6% carbon and its density is 4.5 g/cm3, when the mixture pressure is 20 MPa, the ratio of carbon to V2O5 35%, nitridation time 120 min, nitridation temperature 1723 K and N2 flux 2 L/min. XRD patterns detect the product is pure vanadium nitride. Compared with the conventional resistance furnace heating method, the microwave heating process can shorten the time of reaction and cooling, save the energy, simplify the process and reduce the cost.