Near-infrared to visible and near-infrared upconversion emission has been reported in Yb3+/Ln3+ (Ln3+=Er3+/Tm3+/Ho3+)-α-sialon ceramic prepared by hot press sintering technique. Under 980nm excitation, blue, green, red and near-infrared emissions are observed simultaneously as a result of the efficient energy transfer from Yb3+ to Er3+, Tm3+, and Ho3+ ions leading to a near-white light emission with CIE color coordinate of (0.38, 0.45). The two- and three-photon absorption processes are responsible for the observed upconversion emissions. The ceramic has moderately low phonon energy of 835cm−1. These novel properties make the material a promising candidate for upconversion applications.