Thiourea was employed as nitrogen source to synthesize BCNO phosphors by a simple microwave heating route. The phase structure, chemical composition, and the dependence of photoluminescent properties on the carbon content and incident excitation light for as-prepared BCNO phosphors were investigated in detail. Non-crystalline powder samples constituted by B, C, N, O elements with a slight of S dopant were identified for the prepared BCNO phosphors. Tunable luminescence induced by carbon content and incident excitation light implies the obtained non-crystalline BCNO phosphors could be used as an excellent candidate for LED conversion phosphor. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.