Lanthanam niobate (LaNbO4) nanopowder was synthesized by a low temperature solution-based process. Thermal analysis TG/DTA, XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX, impedance analysis and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) were used to characterize the precursor and the calcined LaNbO4 powders. The gas sensing behavior of LaNbO4 nanopowder was studied with gases like liquid petroleum gas (LPG), ammonia (NH3), and ethanol (C2H5OH), as a function of various controlling factors like operating temperature, concentration of the gas and response time. It revealed that LaNbO4 is a very promising material for the detection of LPG (80%) and NH3 (59%) at relatively lower operating temperatures. (c) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V.