The influence of solid particles on the heat transfer rate of a non-isothermal turbulent channel flow is studied using large-eddy simulation. An Eulerian-Lagrangian approach is adopted, and the backward effects of particles in both the momentum and energy equations are taken into account. It is shown that at a constant particle mass loading, the heat transfer rate increases proportionally with the particle specific heat. For a constant particle specific heat, however, depending on the value of the particle specific heat, the heat transfer rate may decrease, increase, or stay unchanged with the increase of the mass loading. To further clarify this issue, the total Nusselt number is split into a turbulence contribution and a particles contribution, and the relation of the Nusselt number with the fluid temperature velocity correlation and the fluid-particles heat transfer is examined in details. In addition, the mean and fluctuating profiles for fluid and particles are reported, and the results are validated against the available data in the literature. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.