The cationic [2-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)-2-oxazolinato(-2)]oxorhenium(v) complex promotes oxidative dehydrogenation of organosilanes with water and alcohols in a catalytic manner to give excellent yields of silanols and silyl ethers, respectively. The reactions proceed conveniently under ambient and open-flask conditions with low catalyst loading (<or=1 mol%). The scope of the reaction with water is quite broad and includes aliphatic, aromatic, tertiary, secondary and primary silanes. The rate of reaction depends on the catalyst and silane concentrations and kinetic isotope effect measurements demonstrate involvement of the Si-H bond in the activated complex. The most influential factor on the silane affecting reactivity is steric hindrance and a quantitative correlation with the Taft steric parameter (E) is presented. A combination of kinetic data and isotope labelling results are used to discuss plausible mechanisms for the oxidative dehydrogenation reaction pathway.