There are two factors, source composition and magmatic differentiation, potentially controlling W-Sn mineralization. Which one is more important is widely debated and may need to be determined for each individual deposit. The Xitian granite batholith located in South China is a natural laboratory for investigating the above problem. It consists essentially of two separate components, formed in the Triassic at ca. 226 Ma and Jurassic at ca. 152 Ma, respectively. The Triassic and Jurassic rocks are both composed of porphyritic and fine-grained phases. The latter resulted from highly-differentiated porphyritic ones but they have similar textural characteristics and mineral assemblages, indicating that they reached a similar degree of crystal fractionation. Although both fine-grained phases are highly differentiated with elevated rare metal contents, economic W–Sn mineralization is rare in the Triassic granitoids and this can be attributed to less fertile source materials than their Jurassic counterparts, with a slightly more enriched isotopic signature and whole-rock εNd(226 Ma) of ?10.4 to ?9.2 (2σ = 0.2) compared with εNd(152 Ma) of ?9.2 to ?8.2 (2σ = 0.2) for the Jurassic rocks. The initial W-Sn enrichment was derived from the metasedimentary rocks and strongly enhanced by reworking of the continental crust, culminating in the Jurassic.