Alumina has been recognised as one of the most important high temperature ceramic materials; as its application has expanded the scope, a variety of preparative processes have also emerged. For example, sol-gel based synthesis techniques have been applied with a variety of modifications. The monohydroxy aluminium oxide (boehmite) is the precursor in most of the synthesis techniques. Keeping boehmite sol as the starting material, ceramic materials such as alumina, aluminium titanate and alumina-titania high surface area particulates have been prepared at low processing temperatures, and are reported here.Details regarding the in-depth problems with respect to the understanding of structure-property relations in boehmite are presented. Further, the details of synthesis of some high temperature alumina ceramics are discussed. The importance of hydrolysis procedure and calcination conditions in the control of the end properties is highlighted.