In this work, Gd 2 O 3 based glasses with compositions 10CaF 2 :xGd 2 O 3 :(90-x)P 2 O 5 (where x = 5, 10, 15 and 20 mol%) have been prepared by using melt-quenching method and investigated their physical, optical and gamma-ray shielding properties. The total mass attenuation coefficients increased with increasing Gd 2 O 3 concentration and decreased with increasing of photon energies. The effective atomic numbers and the effective electron densities are in the same trend with the total mass attenuation coefficients. The Half-value layers (HVL) at 662 keV were found to decrease with increasing Gd 2 O 3 concentration. All studied glasses have the HVL values lower than some standard shielding, ordinary concretes and commercial window, indicating the potential of the prepared glasses as a radiation shielding material.