The characteristic and effectiveness of pure and modified tin dioxide catalytic pellets as volatile organic compound sensors are discussed. The pure and La-doped SnO2 thick film sensor pellets exhibited highest sensitivity to ethanol, methanol and acetone vapour at sensing temperature 300 degrees C. The highest sensitivity towards 500 ppm of ethanol, acetone and methanol was achieved by 5 at.% of La-doped SnO2 with values of similar to 57, similar to 55 and similar to 59, respectively. The enhancement of the sensitivity of La-doped SnO2 can be explained by the increase of surface areas; decrease of crystallites sizes and the basicity of the lanthanum dopants. The response times for the developed sensors were about 13-15 s for both pure SnO2 and La-doped SnO2 illustrated a fast response sensor that could be used as VOC sensors. (C) 2010 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.