A series of highly dispersed Mo-incorporated mesoporous SBA-16 catalysts (Mo-SBA-16) were successfully synthesized by one-step hydrothermal method. The effects of different Mo loadings and MoOx structure of the Mo-SBA-16 catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane (ODHE) were investigated. Framework-incorporation promotes a better dispersion of molybdenum oxo species. Different kinds of MoOx species are related to the activity and selectivity of ethylene for ODH of ethane. A small amount of Mo species was incorporated into the framework of SBA-16, which greatly increased the selectivity of ethylene, but the C2H6 conversion was slightly greater than that of Mo/SBA-16 catalysts. Meanwhile, for both Mo-SBA-16 and Mo/SBA-16 catalysts the selectivity of ethylene was significantly enhanced with the increasing of reaction temperature. Moreover, Mo-SBA-16 catalysts showed much higher selectivities of ethylene than Mo/SBA-16 ones, mainly due to the presence of isolated MoOx species in the framework of SBA-16. And the maximal selectivity to C2H4 of 75.7% was obtained over 0.05Mo-SBA-16 catalyst. The three-dimensional mesoporous channels of Mo-SBA-16 allowed a better diffusion of ethane and produced ethylene to improve the catalytic performance. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.