In the present work was investigated the effect of two milling parameters, atmosphere and milling time, on the morphology and microstructure of pure copper powder and a mixture of copper-2,5 wt. % lithium. The mechanical alloying was performed in a SPEX 8000D Mill, using steel containers and balls. The two control atmospheres were argon and nitrogen and the milling time was varied from 3 up to 30 hours. The microstructural changes and the phases after milling were analyzed using scanning microscopy and X ray diffraction, whereas the amount of iron was measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy and the amount of oxygen by infrared spectroscopy. The results show the effect of the milling parameters studied on the microstructure as well as on the chemical composition of the samples.