The cobalt triphosphide (CoP3) was grew on carbon paper (CP) by using a hydrothermal method and served as counter electrode (CE) catalyst in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The morphology of the CoP3/CP CE exhibits a regular fibrous structure, which provides a guarantee for its good electrochemical performance of the CE made from the cyclic voltammetry, Tafel test, etc. Various photoelectric performance tests also show that the DSSCs with CoP3/CP CE achieves good photoelectric conversion efficiency of 6.84% under 100 mW.cm(-2) illumination, which can compare to that of the DSSC assembled with the Pt (6.79%) CE. Metal phosphides are rarely used as CEs in DSSCs, and they will have a good promising alternative to the Pt electrode in the future.