The catalytic activities of methane combustion of La-Cr-O catalysts prepared with and without polyacrylic acid as a template have been compared. The polymer-templated catalyst had a higher BET surface area, 12.3 m(2) g(-1), than that obtained from the conventional precipitation method, 2.9 m(2) g(-1). The results of XRD and SEM experiments suggested that the structural characteristics were almost similar. Surprisingly, the areal rate of methane combustion over the catalyst with a small surface area was ten times larger than that of the catalyst with a large surface area. However, the site time yields (STY) based on the oxygen adsorption capacity were similar, independent of the surface area and preparation conditions.