In this paper, the photoluminescence properties of Tb 3+ doped CdWO 4 synthesized via co-precipitation method have been reported. The structural property of the prepared samples was determined by XRD and it was found that all the samples are crystallized in monoclinic structure without any impurity phases. The diameter of the crystallites observed from TEM studies for CdWO 4 :Tb 3+ (5 at.%) were extended in the ranges of 10-30 nm. Photoluminescence studies exhibited a broad excitation band corresponding to the charge transfer transition between filled 2p orbital of O 2− and empty 5d orbital of W 6+ within the WO 6 6− group. Upon excitation at 275 nm by UV light, the prepared samples showed a group of sharp and narrow emission peaks characteristic to the f–f transitions of Tb 3+ with dominant intensity at 545 nm due to 5 D 4 - 7 F 5 transition. The emission intensity increases with the increase in Tb 3+ concentration up to 7 at.% and then decreases upon further increase in Tb 3+ concentration, which is due to concentration quenching effect. The decay time of the prepared samples were investigated in detail and the maximum life time value is found to be 1.079 ms in this study.