A series of single-phased emission tunable NaBa4(BO3)(3):Ce3+, Tb3+ phosphors were synthesized by solid-state reaction. The crystal structure, photoluminescence properties, concentration quenching and energy transfer of NaBa4(BO3)(3):Ce3+, Tb3+ were systematically investigated. The wavelength-tunable bluish-green light can be realized by coupling the emission bands centered at 425 and 543 nm ascribed to the contribution from Ce3+ and Tb3+, respectively. The energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+ in NaBa4(BO3)(3) host was studied and demonstrated to be a resonant type via a dipole-dipole interaction mechanism. The energy transfer efficiency (Ce3+ -> Tb3+) obtained by decay curves was consistent with the result calculated by the emission intensity, which gradually increased from 0% to 84.5% by increasing the Tb3+ doping content from 0 to 0.45. The results indicate that the NaBa4(BO3)(3):Ce3+, Tb3+ phosphors have potential applications as an ultraviolet-convertible phosphor due to its effective excitation in the ultraviolet rang. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.