In recent decades, Mg ₂(Si, Sn) solid solutions have long been considered as one of the most important classes of eco-friendly thermoelectric materials. The thermoelectric performance of Mg ₂(Si, Sn) solid solutions with outstanding characteristics of low-price, non-toxicity, earth-abundant and low-density has been widely studied. The n-type Mg ₂(Si, Sn) solid solutions have achieved the dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit ZT~1.4 through Bi/Sb doping and convergence of conduction bands. However, the thermoelectric performances for p-type Mg ₂(Si, Sn) solid solutions are mainly improved by optimizing the carrier concentration. In this work, the thermoelectric properties for p-type Mg ₂Si _0.3Sn _0.7are investigated and compared with those for different p-type dopant Ag or Li. The homogeneous Mg ₂Si _0.3Sn _0.7with Ag or Li doping is synthesized by two-step solid-state reaction method at temperatures of 873 K and 973 K for 24 h, respectively. The transport parameters and the thermoelectric properties are measured at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 773 K for Mg _2(1–x)Ag _2xSi _0.3Sn _0.7( x= 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05) and Mg _2(1–y)Li _2ySi _0.3Sn _0.7( y= 0, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08) samples. The influences of different dopants on solid solubility, microstructure, carrier concentration, electrical properties and thermal transport are also investigated. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show that the solid solubility for Ag and for Li are x= 0.03 and y= 0.06, respectively. Based on the assumption of single parabolic band model, the value of effective mass ~1.2 m ₀of p-type Mg _2(1–x)Ag _2xSi _0.3Sn _0.7and Mg _2(1–y)Li _2ySi _0.3Sn _0.7are similar to that reported in the literature. The comparative results demonstrate that the maximum carrier concentration for Ag doping and for Li doping are 4.64×10 ¹⁹cm ^–3for x= 0.01 and 15.1×10 ¹⁹cm ^–3for y= 0.08 at room temperature, respectively; the Li element has higher solid solubility in Mg ₂(Si, Sn), which leads to higher carrier concentration and power factor PF~1.62×10 ^–3 ${\rm W}\cdot{\rm m^{–1}}\cdot{\rm K^{–2}}$ in Li doped samples; the higher carrier concentration of Li doped samples effectively suppresses the bipolar effect; the maximum of ZT~0.54 for Mg _1.92Li _0.08Si _0.3Sn _0.7is 58% higher than that of Mg _1.9Ag _0.1Si _0.3Sn _0.7samples. The lattice thermal conductivity of Li or Ag doped sample decreases obviously due to the stronger mass and strain field fluctuations in phonon transport.