tOily wastewater have caused serious water pollution. The development of effective and cheap oil/waterseparation materials is urgent for treating this problem. Herein, inspired by superhydrophobic typicalplant leaves such as lotus, red rose and marigold, superhydrophobic and superoleophilic stainless steelmeshes with excellent oil-water separation efficiency were successfully fabricated by a facile immersionprocess and then surface modification with stearic acid. The simple immersion process, in which surfaceroughness and low-surface-energy coating are the two dominant factors of superhydrophobicity, couldbe accomplished sequentially. It was found that the as-prepared surface is both superhydrophobic andsuperoleophilic, with the static water angle (WCA) as high as 153 ± 3◦and oil contact angle (OCA) of 0◦.Furthermore, as-prepared meshes can be applied to separate an oil-and-water mixture bidirectionally andexhibited excellent oil-water separation efficiency including petroleum, toluene, hexane, gasoline anddiesel, even after being recycled ten times. Compared with previously reported strategies, this strategyis much easier to carry out and, in the meantime, allows the collection of oil in a continuous manner.