Red light (two bands peaked at lambda similar to 680 and similar to 697 nm), visible by naked eye, is emitted by crystalline ceramic powders of NdAlO3 prepared by direct combustion synthesis when the sample is irradiated by unfocused ultraviolet pulsed laser light (lambda = 337 nm). This is the first observation of luminescence at the visible from NdAlO3 structure. The red emission can be explained by assuming that the quantum cutting process D-4(3/2) --> F-4(9/2) --> I-4(9/2) is the relevant relaxation mechanism involved in the down-conversion process. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.