We report on the synthesis of ((Zn1-2xCexFex) O (x=0.00, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.05)) nanoparticles via microwave combustion by using urea as a fuel. To understand how the dopant influenced the structural, magnetic and optical properties of nanoparticles, it was characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence (PL) spectra and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The stability and magnetic properties of Ce and Fe co-doped ZnO were probed by first principle calculations. From the analysis of X-ray diffraction, the samples are identified with the wurtzite crystal structure. The change in lattice parameters, micro-strain, and a small shift in XRD peaks confirms the substitution of co dopants into the ZnO lattice. Morphological investigation of the products revealed the existence of irregular shapes, such as spherical, spherodial and hexagonal. DRS measurements showed a decrease in the energy gap with increasing dopants contents, probably due to an increase in the lattice parameters. PL spectra consist of visible emission, due to the electronic defects, which are related to deep level emissions, such as oxide antisite (OZn), interstitial zinc (Zni), interstitial oxygen (Oi) and zinc vacancy (VZn). Magnetic measurements showed a ferromagnetic behavior for all the doped samples at room temperature. The first principle calculation results showed that the Ce governs the stability, while the Fe adjusts the magnetic characteristics in the Ce and Fe co-doped ZnO. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.