In order to enhance the densification rate and tribological-related properties of C/C composites to meet their requirements as friction components, copper tartrate and volatile anhydrous ethanol were used as catalyst and dispersant, respectively, to in-situ prepare dispersed carbon nanofiber clusters (CNFCs) inside carbon felt by catalytic chemical vapor infiltration (CCVI), which were then densified by isothermal chemical vapor infiltration (ICVI) to prepare CNFCs-C/C composites (CNFCs-C/C). The effects of catalyst content ( ωcat" role="presentation"> ω cat ) and catalytic time ( tcat" role="presentation"> t cat ) on densification, microstructure and tribology-related properties of CNFCs-C/C were investigated. The results show that as the catalyst content ( ωcat" role="presentation"> ω cat ) and catalytic time ( tcat" role="presentation"> t cat ) increase from 0.35% to 4.50% and from 10   min to 90   min, respectively, the CNFs content ( ωCNFs" role="presentation"> ω CNFs ) increases from 2.2% to 167.4%, C/C composites gradually transform to isotropic (ISO) carbon but with markedly higher graphitization degree, the final bulk density ( ρf" role="presentation"> ρ f ) of sample increases from 1.595 to 1.706   g/cm 3 (+7%), the compressive strength ( Sc" role="presentation"> S c ) increases from 75.5 to 140.9   MPa (+78%), the mean coefficient of friction (COF or μ̅" role="presentation"> ̅ μ ̅ ) increases from 0.23 to 0.30 (+30.4%), the mass wear rate (R w) decreases from 5.8 to 1.4   mg/h (-76%), the intralayer electrical resistivity (ρ ∥) decreases from 2.685 to 1.805 mΩ·cm (-32.8%), the interlayer thermal conductivity (λ ⊥) increases from 3.177 to 5.373   W/(m·K) (+69%), indicating that CNFCs-C/C display shorter preparation cycle, lower preparation cost and better tribology-related properties than C/C composites, which is expected to be used as aircraft brake disc and high-speed rail pantograph.