Up-conversion luminescent yttrium orthovanadate (YVO4) nanoparticles doped with rare-earth ions have attracted much research attention in recent years.Rare earth ions of Yb3+/Er3+ and Yb3+/Tm3+ are believed to be the most effective ions for doping into YVO4 host lattice to result in efficient up-conversion luminescence.In this paper, we report a facile method for synthesis of YVO4∶ RE (RE=Yb3+/Er3+, Yb3+/Tm3+) nanoparticles by hydrothermal treatment of quaternary microemulsion medium consisting of Na3VO4/NaOH and RE(NO3)3 aqueous solution,surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, cosurfactant n-hexanol and oil phase n-heptane.