A novel solid-gas route to prepare LaMnO3 perovskite catalysts for methane combustion has been developed. The method was carried out using a polyvinylpyrrolidone-metal complex as precursor via a solid-gas process to obtain the target materials. The structure and properties of the precursor and the catalysts were characterized by FT-IR, TG-DSC, XRD and N2 adsorption-desorption techniques. The results indicate that the catalysts synthesized via the solid-gas process possess higher surface areas, better thermal resistance and catalytic activity as compared to those prepared with the conventional sol-gel citrate method.