The influence of Nb 2 O 5 on the microstructure and dielectric properties, including temperature dependence of permittivity, dielectric loss, and Curie temperature, has been investigated on BaTiO 3 -Bi 0.5 Na 0.5 TiO 3 (abbreviated as BBT) ceramics. Experiments reveal that incorporation of a proper content of Nb 2 O 5 in BBT ceramics can control the grain growth, reduce the dielectric loss, shift the Curie temperature to higher temperatures and significantly improve temperature characteristics of the BaTiO 3 -Bi 0.5 Na 0.5 TiO 3 ceramics. As a result, a novel X10R material is developed in the system, which is very promising for practical use in X10R multilayer ceramic capacitors. With the addition of 2.0 wt% Nb 2 O 5 , the ceramics sintered at 1,150°C showed favorable dielectric properties at 25°C (e r = 1,730, tand = 1.39 9 10 -2 , and TCC = 12.0 %).