A green nano‐sized ceramic pigment Co0.6Zn0.4Al0.8Cr1.2‐xSmxO4 has been successfully prepared by doping ions Zn2+, Cr3+, and Sm3+ into the crystalline CoAl2O4 spinel and using the complex‐gel method along with agar as complexing and combustion agent. The Infrared Spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, Thermo‐gravimeter, High resolution transmission electron microscopy, Automatic color reader, and UV Vis diffuse reflectance were applied to characterize the pigment power and its gel precursor. The results reveal that the introduction of Zn2+, Cr3+, and Sm3+ could change the occupation status of ions in the tetrahedral and octahedral framework of CoAl2O4 spinel, leading to the colorant variation of the blue cobalt pigment CoAl2O4, With increasing the content of Sm3+ ion, the reflection peak position of the pigments in visible spectrum appeared a red‐shift, ie the color transition from blue green to yellow green, and the average reflectivity in the violet region decreased to 13.31%, and the band gap energy also changed from 3.47 to 3.20 eV. This illustrates the better UV absorption of this green pigment and can be used as UV shielding material. With the hydrochloric acid or sodium hydroxide solution treatment, this pigment was found to be durable in chemical stability.