Effect of Co and Mo ions on the sodium zinc borophosphate glasses network was investigated. Both structural and optical properties were studied by X-ray diffraction, density, infrared spectroscopy and optical absorption. Only a broad halo was observed in the X-ray diffraction patterns indicating the non-crystalline nature of the prepared samples. Density and related parameters such as molar volume and average boron-boron separation showed that the glass network became more compact by increasing Mo oxide. Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy results showed that the free Co and Mo sample revealed the formation of structural building units of the borate and phosphate glasses. The addition of Co and Mo oxides cause variation in structural sites of the glass formers which appear as a small change in the FTIR spectra. The optical absorption spectra in the UV-Visible regions were used to study the optical d-d transitions of Co and Mo ions. Deconvolution of the absorption spectra gave multi-bands in the UV-Visible regions which, are related to the presence of various oxidation states of the two transition metal ions, cobalt and molybdenum, octahedral and tetrahedral of Co 2+ , octahedral of Co 3+ , Mo 3+ , and Mo 5+ . The calculated optical energy gap, Urbach energy and refractive index of all the prepared samples were found to be glass composition dependent.