The phosphors of Ba

3

P

4

O

13

:Ce

3+

Tb

3+

were synthesized by a high-temperature solid state reaction. The luminescence properties of Ce

3+

doped-only

Tb

3+

doped-only and Ce

3+

-Tb

3+

co-doped were studied. Meanwhile

the energy transition phenomenon in the sample of Ce

3+

-Tb

3+

co-doped was also observed. Seen from the excitation spectra

the peaks of Ce

3+

shows a broad band character

ization

while there are two peaks overlapped with each other in emission spectra. The emission peaks locating at 340 nm and 363 nm were both obtained through Gaussian fitting method. In the excitation spectra of Ba

3

P

4

O

13

:Ce

3+

samples: the peak of Tb

3+

exhibited the strongest absorption at 220nm

and the emission from the levels of

5

D

3

and

5

D

4

of Tb

3+

 was observed at the same time

indicating that non-radioactive process between them was inefficient. The photoluminescence properties and decay curves were carefully investigated in the samples of Ba

3

P

4

O

13

:Ce

3+

Tb

3+

phosphors. The results reveal that an efficient energy transition from Ce

3+

to Tb

3+

in Ba

3

P

4

O

13

host is a kind of dipole-dipole interaction in theory.