In this paper, large-scale YPO 4:Eu 3+ nanobundles with uniform diameter were controllably synthesized by a glycine-assisted hydrothermal method at 150 °C using Y(NO 3) 3, Eu(NO 3) 3 and (NH 4) 3PO 4 as the precursors. During the synthetic procedure of inorganic rare earth luminescent nanomaterials, glycine was firstly chosen as the complexing and surface-functionalizing agent. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results show that the luminescent nanobundles are pure tetragonal structure and no other impurity phase appeared. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) studies indicate that the YPO 4:Eu 3+ nanobundles are polycrystalline structure with a narrow size distribution. Photoluminescence(PL) spectra results demonstrate that the YPO 4:Eu 3+ nanobundles have two strong 5D 0→ 7F 1(591 nm) and 5D 0→ 7F 2(618 nm) transition peaks corresponding to orange-red and red color, respectively.