The thing was presented to one on return (4)
I believe the answer is:
item
'the thing' is the definition.
(an item is a thing)
'was presented to one on return' is the wordplay.
'was' becomes 'ti' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'presented to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'one' becomes 'me' (a setter might use 'one' to humourously mean 'me').
'on return' is a reversal indicator.
'ti' after 'me' is 'meti'.
'meti' back-to-front is 'ITEM'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for item that I've seen before include "Bit of news to broadcast" , "Matter" , "couple linked" , "See couple" , "pair?" .)