Solution combustion synthesis (SCS) is a one-step technique for the preparation of nanostructured complex metal oxides. In the present study, SCS was used for the synthesis of several promising oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) catalyst series with varying metal ratios: (a) Sr-Al complex oxides, (b) La2O3, (c) La-Sr-Al complex oxides and (d) Na2WO4-Mn/SiO2. The C-2 yield and ethylene/ethane ratio were measured for each catalyst over a wide range of temperatures. It was found that the double perovskite phase is active for OCM in the Sr-Al complex oxide series. The Na2WO4-Mn/SiO2 catalyst synthesized by SCS was stable and also showed high ethylene/ethane ratio similar to 2 along with high C-2 yield similar to 25%, which is among the highest value reported in the literature, indicating that SCS is a promising method to prepare OCM catalysts. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.