Phase-pure Ce-/Tb-doped and co-doped lanthanum stannates (La 2 Sn 2 O 7 ) nanocrystals were synthesized by a co-precipitation process combined with hydrothermal techniques without any further heat treatment. The crystal structure, particle size, morphologies, and photoluminescence properties of the as-synthesized products were investigated by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The as-prepared samples were single-phase cubic pyrochlore-type nanocrystals with a typical size of 10–20nm. PL spectra showed a dominating green-emitting line around 544nm attributing to 5 D 4 – 7 F 5 magnetic dipole transition for Tb 3+ doped and Ce 3+ /Tb 3+ co-doped La 2 Sn 2 O 7 nanocrystals. Meanwhile, the concentration quenching phenomenon was observed in both La 2−x Tb x Sn 2 O 7 and La 1.82−x Ce x Tb 0.18 Sn 2 O 7 nanocrystals. Furthermore, an interesting enhancement of the energy transfer induced green emission was observed in the as-synthesized La 1.82−x Ce x Tb 0.18 Sn 2 O 7 nanocrystals.