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It is known that nanoscale precipitates strongly affect the precipitation hardening of structural materials. In this study, we report the precipitation kinetics and thermostability of Cu-rich and NiAl nanoprecipitates in nanostructured steels with Mo additions. Atom probe tomography and first-principles calculations revealed that the addition of Mo effectively decreased the diffusion coefficients of Cu, Ni and Al atoms, leading to the change in the precipitation mechanisms from NiAl prior-precipitation with an instantaneous-nucleation mechanism to the Cu prior-precipitation with a continuous-nucleation mechanism. The decreased diffusion coefficient significantly improves the thermostability of nanoprecipitates and strongly enhances the strength of the nanostructured steels.