Targeting to unravel the catalytic sites of some specific perovskites for OCM reaction, and elucidate the influences of crystal phase changes on the active sites, three A +1 Nb 5+ O 3 (A = Li, Na, K) complex oxides were synthesized in the pure phase. The reaction performance is ranked as NaNbO 3 > KNbO 3 > LiNbO 3 for the catalysts. It is revealed that LiNbO 3 possesses a hexagonal ilmenite-type phase, and NaNbO 3 and KNbO 3 possess orthorhombic and tetragonal perovskite phases, respectively. Due to the fine structure difference, NaNbO 3 and KNbO 3 have higher oxygen mobility than LiNbO 3 , as testified by the electric conductivity measurements. Moreover, the Nb−O bond strength of NaNbO 3 and KNbO 3 is much weaker than that of LiNbO 3 , which promotes also the oxygen mobility and phase transformation of the two samples, especially in the high temperature OCM process. As a result, more oxygen vacancies/defects are generated on NaNbO 3 and KNbO 3 , which facilitates the efficient formation of OCM active and selective surface O 2 − species and basic sites. Subsequently, the OCM performance of NaNbO 3 and KNbO 3 can be evidently improved. Combining the above advantages, NaNbO 3 exhibits the optimal OCM performance in all the samples.