In thiswork, we investigate the influence of Mn
2+
on the emission color, thermal sensing and optical heater behavior of NaGdF
4
: Yb/Er nanophosphors, which the nanoparticles were synthesized by a hydrothermal method using oleic acid as both a stabilizing and a chelating agent. The morphology and crystal size of upconversion nano particles (UCNPs) can be effectively controlled through the addition of Mn
2+
dopant contents in NaGdF
4
: Yb/Er system. Moreover, an enhancement in overall UCL spectra of Mn
2+
doped UCNPs for NaGdF
4
host compared to the UCNPs is observed, which results from a closed back-energy transfer between Er
3+
and Mn
2+
ions (
4
S
3/2
(Er
3+
) →
4
T
1
(Mn
2+
) →
4
F
9/2
(Er
3+
)). The temperature sensitivity of NaGdF
4
:Yb
3+
/Er
3+
doping with Mn
2+
based on thermally coupled levels (
2
H
11/2
and
4
S
3/2
) of Er
3+
is similar to that particles without Mn
2+
in the 303–548 K range. And the maximum sensitivity is 0.0043 K
−1
at 523 K for NaGdF
4
:Yb
3+
/Er
3+
/Mn
2+
. Interestingly, the NaGdF
4
:Yb
3+
/Er
3+
/Mn
2+
shows preferable optical heating behavior, which is reaching a large value of 50 K. These results indicate that inducing of Mn
2+
ions in NaGdF
4
:Yb
3+
/Er
3+
nanophosphors has potential in colorful display, temperature sensor.