This article describes a green chemical process employing nano-particle gold as the catalyst and ionic liquids (IL) as solvent for the methane oxidation. The catalytic reaction was carried out in a 100 ml autoclave filled with 2 MPa of CH4 gas, together with nano-particle gold supported on SiO2 as the catalyst, [Bmim]Cl as the solvent, trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFAA) as the acidic reagents, and K2S2O8 as the oxidant. The influence of the amounts of Au/SiO2 and the ionic liquid on the conversion of methane was investigated at reaction temperature of 90 degrees C. The main product is methanol, which exists as the methyl group of the methyl trifluoroacetate. In presence of 0.01 g Au/SiO2 and 1 g IL the methane conversion is 24.9%, the selectivity of product is up to 71.5% and the yield is 17.8%. The selectivity of carbon dioxide is 1.6% and the yield is 0.6%. The selectivity of hydrogen is 0.4% and the yield is 0.1%. In the reaction system, the gold particles and IL can be recycled, which recovery is about 96.9%. The conversion of methane in the recycled system remains as high as 21.75%. The mechanism of methane to methano conversion, as well as the catalytic action of the nano-gold, was also discussed. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V.