Ytterbium and europium ions co-doped stannic oxide nanofibers (SYE NFs) are prepared by a simple electrospun method, which are applied in the photoanode for the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Comparing to the pure TiO2 photoanode, the TiO2 photoanode with SYE NFs demonstrates a broadened light absorption range and an enhanced electrons transport rate. The DSSC based on the TiO2 photoanode with SYE NFs achieves a greatly improved short-circuit current density, leading to an enhanced photoelectric conversion efficiency of 8.74% under full sunlight illumination (100 mW cm(-2), AM 1.5 G), which is almost 20.89% higher than that of the DSSC based on the pure TiO2 photoanode without SYE NFs (7.23%). Moreover, the novel strategy of preparation SYE NFs is an universal method to adjust rare-earth species to achieve other materials with up- or down-conversion functions. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.