A novel series of color-tunable single-phased phosphors La 1-x-y PO 4 :xEu 3+ /yTb 3+ (x=0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04, 0.05; y=0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) was synthesized via co-precipitation method with diammonium hydrogen phosphate as precipitant. The morphology, crystal structure and photoluminescence properties of the as-prepared samples were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and fluorescence spectrophotometer. The results reveal that the as-synthesized samples calcined at 1100 °C display spherical morphology with uniform distribution. Upon excitation with 350 nm ultraviolet radiation, the LaPO 4 :Eu 3+ /Tb 3+ phosphors showed a green light peaking at 543 nm assigned to the characteristic 5 D 4 -7 F 5 emission of Tb 3+ and a red light peaking at 591 nm corresponding to the characteristic 5 D 0 -7 F 1 emission of Eu 3+ simultaneously. For the Eu 3+ /Tb 3+ co-activated phosphors, Tb 3+ acts as an efficient sensitizer to enhance the emission intensity of Eu 3+ ions. The energy transfer mechanism and the emission color tunability of LaPO 4 :Eu 3+ /Tb 3+ have been studied. The results indicate that a color-tunable luminescence(from green to white to red) can be achieved by adjusting the Eu 3+ /Tb 3+ doping ratio in the LaPO 4 host matrix.