Polycrystalline Ce3+ doped lutetium aluminum garnet (Ce:LuAG) transparent ceramics fabricated by one step solid-state reaction method using synthetic nano-sized Lu2O3, commercial alpha-Al2O3 and CeO2 powders were investigated in this paper. The green compacts shaped by the mixed powders were successfully densified into Ce:LuAG transparent ceramics after vacuum sintering at 1750 degrees C for 10 h. The in-line optical transmittance of the Ce:LuAG ceramic made by home-made Lu2O3 powders could reach 57.48% at 550 nm, which was higher than that of the ceramic made by commercial Lu2O3 powders (22.96%). The microstructure observation showed that light scattering centers caused by micro-pores, aluminum segregation and refraction index inhomogeneities induced the decrease of optical transparency of the Ce:LuAG ceramics, which should be removed and optimized in the future work. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.