Li-7 NMR relaxation has been used to study lithium-ion diffusion in layer-structured SnS2. Keeping the Li intercalation degree in LixSnS2 below x = 0.49, the Li ions preferentially occupy sites in the van der Waals gap between the SnS2 sheets. In contrast to conventional NMR spin-lattice relaxation (SLR) rate measurements in the laboratory frame of reference, which are sensitive to rather fast Li exchange processes, with the help of spin-locking SLR NMR slower Li motions were extracted from characteristic diffusion-induced rate peaks. The latter contain information on both Li+ activation energies Ea and Li ion jump rates tau(-1) characterizing the elementary steps of Li+ hopping. Our results point to two different diffusion processes (E-a(I) = 0.38 eV; E-a(II) = 0.28 eV), a slower and a faster one, observable directly after chemical Li insertion. Interestingly, the diffusion behaviour irreversibly changes when the sample has been exposed to temperatures as high as 573 K. Diffusion-induced NMR rates and corresponding line shapes are discussed with respect to an inhomogenous distribution of Li ions in SnS2, which seems to be present directly after Li intercalation. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.