Cerium ferrite (CeFeO3) thin films doped with vanadium (V:CeFeO3) were grown on SiO2 quartz glass and <100>-oriented SrTiO3 (STO) crystal substrates by the radio-frequency magnetron sputtering method in this study. The effects of crystallization, substrate, and V-doping on the quality, the magnetic property and the magneto-optical property of as-prepared films are investigated. V:CeFeO3 film grown on STO substrate has better crystallinity and has better lattice integrity due to the higher lattice matching between substrate and film. The magnetic hysteresis loop and the magnetic circular dichroism spectra show that the magnetization strength and the magneto-optical properties of V:CeFeO3 films have the significant anisotropy. Moreover, V-doping and the stress lead to the change in easy magnetization direction of film. It shows that the perovskite B-site doping with transition-metal ion has significant influence on the magnetic and the magneto-optical properties of CeFeO3 thin films.