When reductive gases pass over the surface of nanosized catalysts, a kind of chemiluminescence named cataluminescence (CTL) can be generated due to the production of excited intermediates. Here we report the observation of an energy transfer process between excited intermediates and the nanosized catalysts. The CTL is quenched when introducing Ho 3+ , Co 2+ and Cu 2+ into the catalyst, while new intensive CTL peaks appear when the catalyst is doped with Eu 3+ or Tb 3+ . Further study indicates that the new CTL peak on Eu 3+ - or Tb 3+ -doped catalyst originates from the luminescence of the doped ions, excited by the energy transferred from excited intermediates produced during the reaction. Based on this novel energy-transfer CTL (ETCTL), an ethanol sensor is developed with Eu 3+ -doped nanosized ZrO 2 that is linear to ethanol concentrations from 45 to 550ppm, with the whole linear range lower than the lower limit of the previous CTL sensor. The ETCTL from Eu 3+ -doped in nanosized ZrO 2 shows 72 times higher sensitivity than the CTL from excited intermediates in the sensor. High selectivity and stability are also obtained for this sensor. The results also indicate that the main factor limiting the sensitivity of CTL sensor on pure catalyst may be the inevitable energy quenching of excited intermediates with the catalyst, which is artfully utilized in the present work by the introduction of Eu 3+ that effectively absorbs this part of energy and transfers it into light energy.