Pure and cerium doped Dy 2O 3 nanoparticles were prepared by wet chemical synthesis route. The particles were subjected to thermal, structural, morphological and optical property studies. The calcination temperature was chosen based on the decomposition of the samples revealed by TG studies. EDS and FTIR results confirmed the presence of cerium in the Dy 2O 3 system. The particle size calculated from Williamson-Hall plot was consistent with TEM results. The effect of cerium as a dopant on the UV-vis absorption and photoluminescence intensity has been studied. XRD and PL analyses demonstrate that the cerium ions uniformly substitute dysprosium sites in Dy 2O 3 lattice and hence influence the optical properties. Crown Copyright © 2012 Published by ElsevierLtd.All rights reserved.