Green to yellowish green light emitting of Ce 3 + -doped barium zinc sulfide (Ba 2 ZnS 3 ) phosphor powders have been synthesized by a double-crucible method. XRD results indicate that the raw materials are completely sulfurized above 950 o C, and possess orthorhombic crystal structure with increasing doping concentration from 0 to 1mol%. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra show that the emission peaks located in the 502-532nm range (under excitation at λ e x =422nm) and in the 530-560-nm range (under excitation at λ e x =358nm) depend on the doping concentration of the Ce 3 + ions. The emission spectra resulted from the 2 D(5d)- 7 F 5 / 2 (4f) and 2 D(5d)- 7 F 7 / 2 (4f) Ce 3 + transitions. The Ba 2 ZnS 3 doped with 0.5mol% Ce 3 + and prepared at 950 o C for 16h has the highest luminescent intensity; the emission wavelength λ e m is around 530nm (at λ e x =422nm) and the CIE coordinate is x=0.33, y=0.53.