Heteropolyacid, the most popular catalyst for the direct oxidation of isobutane, exhibits high catalytic activity, poor thermal stability and a short lifetime. Therefore, the catalyst requires further research to improve its performance. Catalysts composed of mixed oxides (V2O5, P2O5, or MoO3) supported on silica were prepared by the sol-gel method to catalyze the reaction. Results of XRD, IR, and BET corroborated that the mixed oxides were dispersed homogeneously on the surface of support. The activity of lattice oxygen in the catalysts was studied by TPR, and the chemisorption property of isobutane on the surface of the catalysts was investigated by the TPD method. H2-TPR of the catalysts revealed that the lattice oxygen of the vanadium-based catalysts is more active than that of the molybdenum-based catalysts. The rcdox property of V or Mo species is slightly affected by other compositions of the series catalysts. The TPD curves illustrate that there are two kinds of adsorptive species of isobutane on the surface of the V and Mo based catalysts. The adsorbing species on the VMoP/SiO2 catalyst are identical to the main adsorbing species on VP/SiO2 and MoP/SiO2. The catalyst VMoP/SiO2 is more active than others in the selective oxidation of isobutane.