Uniform and well-crystallized NaCe(MoO 4 ) 2 : Er 3+ /Ho 3+ , Yb 3+ up-conversion (UC) phosphors have been successfully synthesized by a facile hydrothermal route at 180 o C for 12 h at pH=9. The crystalline phase, size and morphology were systematically characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The experimental results showed that the ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) was a key parameter which not only determined their spacial arrangement, but also affected the size distributions of the final products.Moreover, we found that EDTA could tune the band edge absorption of molybdate system by changing the lattice parameters, so as to realize their bicolour tunable luminescence of Er 3+ /Ho 3+ -Yb 3+ co-doped NaCe(MoO 4 ) 2 for the first time. Studies of the behavior as a function of dopant concentration were all described. The different UC mechanism of the samples with and without EDTA were systematically depicted as well. It was found that an innovative route to increase the green UC emission and simultaneously suppress red UC emission in Er 3+ /Ho 3+ -Yb 3+ co-doped NaCe(MoO 4 ) 2 prepared with the assistance of 0.1 g EDTA, which enhanced the efficiency of the single green color.Since the UC luminescence of rare-earth (RE) ions was discovered by Auzel in the mid-1960s, 1-2 it has been the focus of much research. Potential applications include solar cells, 3-6 novel display technologies, 7-9 inks for secure printing 10 and, more recently, biophysics. 11-13 Their advantages include near-infrared (NIR) excitation, low cytotoxicity, weak autofluorescence, high chemical stability, and low photobleaching, which make them more desirable than conventional organic dyes or quantum dots for bioimaging application. 14-17 The photoluminescence emission from rare earth doped materials arises due to the transitions within the 4f n energy manifolds which are forbidden because of the electric dipole selection rule but these are allowed due to the mixing of configurations having opposite parity. One of the most exciting properties of these materials is frequency UC where two or more photons having relatively low energy are absorbed by the material and subsequently converted to a higher energy photon (this is an anti-Stokes process). However, the commonly investigated lanthanide activators such as Er 3+ and Ho 3+ ions contain abundant metastable excited states, and the dominant emission usually lies in the non-green region with relatively low green emission intensity. Hence, a strategy to boost the green emission intensity will be useful for UC applications.It is well known that lattice parameter is the fundamental factor that affects the luminescence property. [18][19] During the hydrothermal process, the introduction of EDTA with functional groups into the reaction system can effectively change the band edge absorption of MoO 4 2of the final product by changing the lattice parameters, which makes effort to build energy level match conditions between relati...