The production of lower olefins from methanol becomes an attractive process because of the rapid increase in crude oil price. This paper reivews the conversion mechanisms of methanol to hydrocarbons over zeolite and SAPO molecular sieve catalysts to understand the formation steps of lower olefins from methanol. The feasibility of the conversion mechanisms such as the direct mechanism based on well-defined intermediates and the hydrocarbon pool mechanism involving hydrocarbon moieties as an active centers is discussed with reepect to the induction period, the selectivity for products and the deactivation phenomena of the methanol conversion. The literature appeered since 1999 for the structure of the hydrocarbon pool and its catalytic role in the methanol conversion are summariged, and the prospect for the methanol-to-olefins process is described.