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27 Pags.- 10 Figs.- 7 Tabls. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ; Mediterranean-climate catchments are characterized by significant spatial and temporal hydrological variability caused by the interaction of natural as well human-induced abiotic and biotic factors. This study investigates the non-linearity of rainfall-runoff relationship at multiple temporal scales in representative small Mediterranean-climate catchments (i.e., <10 km2) to achieve a better understanding of their hydrological response. The rainfall-runoff relationship was evaluated in 43 catchments at annual and event—203 events in 12 of these 43 catchments—scales. A linear rainfall-runoff relationship was observed at an annual scale, with a higher scatter in pervious (R2: 0.47) than impervious catchments (R2: 0.82). Larger scattering was observed at the event scale, although pervious lithology and agricultural land use promoted significant rainfall-runoff linear relations in winter and spring. These relationships were particularly analysed during five hydrological years in the Es Fangar catchment (3.35 km2; Mallorca, Spain) as a temporal downscaling to assess the intra-annual variability, elucidating whether antecedent wetness conditions played a significant role in runoff generation. The assessment of rainfall-runoff relationships under contrasted lithology, land use and seasonality is a useful approach to improve the hydrological modelling of global change scenarios in small catchments where the linearity and non-linearity of the hydrological response—at multiple temporal scales—can inherently co-exist in Mediterranean-climate catchments. ; This work was supported by the research project CGL2017-88200-R "Functional hydrological and sediment connectivity at Mediterranean catchments: global change scenarios –MEDhyCON2" funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, the Spanish Agency of Research (AEI) and the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF). The contribution of Jérôme Latron was supported by the research project PCIN-2017-061/AEI also funded by the Spanish Government. Josep Fortesa has a contract funded by the Ministry of Innovation, Research and Tourism of the Autonomous Government of the Balearic Islands (FPI/2048/2017). Julián García-Comendador is in receipt of a pre-doctoral contract (FPU15/05239) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. Miquel Tomàs-Burguera acknowledges the support from the project CGL2017-83866-C3-3-R financed by the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) and the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. Jaume Company is in receipt of Young Qualified Program fund by Employment Service of the Balearic Islands and European Social Fund (SJ-QSP 48/19). Aleix Calsamiglia acknowledges the support from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through a pre-doctoral contract (BES-2013-062887). ; Peer reviewed