Currently the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) imposes a £250 cap on payments so as to avoid commercialising the procedure.
But the low payment is thought to be behind a shortage in egg and sperm donation which is driving infertile women and men to overseas – often unregulated – clinics, according to research.
Now the HFEA is considering adopting the Spanish system which would see the payment cap lifted to £800.
"We want to review egg donation," Professor Lisa Jardine, the chair of the HFEA told the Sunday Times.
"We are suggesting moving closer to the Spanish system. But there is no suggestion of adopting the US model where a good-looking girl with a degree can get $30,000 (£19,000) for her eggs."
A report will go to the HFEA's executive next month, setting out the proposed higher payments.
It will then be put out to public consultation.
Fertility clinics are barred from offering straight payments for egg or sperm donation.
Even though egg donors can face invasive procedures and some health risks, they are entitled to a maximum "compensation"of only £250 for loss of earnings, plus expenses.
There are fears that raising the payments could commercialise egg and sperm harvesting, undermining the principle of donation on which the current system is based.
Anthony Rutherford, a consultant at the NHS Leeds Centre for Reproductive Medicine and chairman of the British Fertility Society, said: "Women who donate eggs have to undergo consultations, medical investigations, a course of injections and a small operation.
"That is a lot to go through and £250 is not enough. However, there is a balance to be struck. If you allow payments that are too high then the principle of donation is lost."
Estimates of the number of British women travelling abroad for fertility treatment range from the high hundreds to the low thousands.
The main destinations include Spain, the Czech Republic and America. Others stay in Britain and reach private agreements with egg donors, thus avoiding official scrutiny.
The HFEA says it has reports of women being given £20,000 cars or having their credit card debts paid off.
One in six couples suffer from infertility problems in Britain. About 37,000 women underwent in-vitro fertilisation treatment here last year. About 2,000 babies are born in Britain each year using donated sperm, eggs or embryos.
The number of women registered as egg donors has risen slightly from 946 in 1998 to 1,150 now. The real problem is that the number of women wanting fertility treatment has risen much faster than this.
Read more about egg donation and the HFEA