The oxidative coupling of methane to ethane and ethene has been investigated by admitting pulses of pure methane, pure oxygen, and mixtures of methane and oxygen to MgO, Li/MgO, and Sn/Li/MgO at temperatures ranging from 923 to 1073 K in a Temporal Analysis of Products (TAP) set-up. Moreover, pulses of oxygen followed by pulses of either methane, ethane, ethene, or carbon monoxide were applied to study the role of both adsorbed oxygen and surface lattice oxygen in the reaction mechanism.