By preliminary grinding of TiO2 gel and Mg (OH)(2) mixture with a laboratory vibration mill, formation of magnesium titanate (MgTiO3) on subsequent heating predominantly took place instead of crystallization of anatase and MgO. This can be explained by the incipient interaction between TiO2 and Mg (OH)(2) coupled with mechanochemical dehydration during the mechanical activation. The rate of mechanochemical complexation with TiO2 was smaller than with SiO2, presumably due to the weaker acidity of TiO2 and SiO2.