By using metal nitrates, rare earth oxides as raw materials and citric acid as complexing agent, Y3Al5O12: Eu3+ red phosphors were prepared by a citrate-gel method. The purified crystalline phase of Y3Al5O12 was obtained at 1000 ℃, which is 450 ℃ lower than that of ordinary solid state reaction. The result of XRD indicates that the samples are indexed to cubic symmetry, and the cell parameter a of Y3-xEuxAl5O12 (0.025≤x≤0.15) increases with x value increasing. The photoluminescence of Y3-xEuxAl5O12 (0.025≤x≤0.15) was investigated under UV region, it is found that there is a broad band around 240 nm assigned to the charge transfer transition (CTS) between Eu3+ and O2- in the excitation spectrum. In the emission spectrum, the most intense emission is at the peak of 590 nm corresponding to Eu3+ 5D0→7F1 transition. Compared with the sample synthesized by solid state reaction, the phosphor obtained by citric-gel method shows lower emission intensity, but it has relatively higher red/orange ratio and better color purity