Tunable white light emission was generated in blue-green self-activated Ba2TiSi2O8 phosphor by doping Sm3+ or Eu3+ ions, which emit orange-red light. The white light was attributed to the color mixture of blue-green and orange-red emission, which originates from the charge transfer (CT) transition emission of Ti4+-O2- and the transition emission of dopants (Sm3+ or Eu3+) respectively. The dependence of emission properties on the concentration of Eu3+ dopants and the energy transfer between the Ti4+-O2- CT and the dopants were investigated. White light with tunable correlated color temperature (CCT) and color rendering index (CRI) for Ba2TiSi2O8:Eu3+ phosphors were demonstrated by simply controlling the content of dopants, suggesting the potential application in white light emitting devices. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.