To develop reactive catalysts for oxidative coupling of methane at low temperatures, different alkali-metal oxides are adopted in this study to modify the surface of SnO 2 . In comparison with the unmodified SnO 2 , the reaction performance of all of the modified catalysts can be significantly improved, among which lithium oxide shows the best promotional effects, and the optimal catalyst is achieved with a Sn/Li molar ratio of 5:5. With this catalyst, the highest C 2 product yield of 16 % is achieved at 750°C. The XPS and CO 2 -TPD results reveal that for those catalysts with evident enhanced OCM reaction performance, the coexistence of a suitable amount of surface alkaline and electrophilic oxygen sites is indispensable. Furthermore, with the catalysts modified by different amounts of lithium oxide, the C 2 yield at different temperatures is nearly [a