Ce3+–doped, Tb3+–doped and (Ce3+, Tb3+)–codoped BaO–Gd2O3–Al2O3–B2O3–SiO2 glasses were prepared by high temperature melting method and their luminescence properties have been investigated under UV excitation. Ce3+–doped borosilicate glass has a strong purplish–blue emission with the maximum about at 399nm. Tb3+–doped borosilicate glass shows bright green emission at about 545nm. (Ce3+, Tb3+)–codoped borosilicate glasses present a broad band emission ranging from 350 to 475nm except emitting light at about 490, 545, 588 and 624nm. There is an effective energy transfer from Ce3+ ion to Tb3+ ion and Ce3+ ion strongly sensitizes the luminescence of Tb3+ ion in (Ce3+, Tb3+)–codoped borosilicate glasses. A fast luminescence decay time of Tb3+ ion is in an order of ms in (Ce3+, Tb3+)–codoped borosilicate glasses, which indicates it could be useful for X–ray detection for slow event.