Garnet-type Li6Ca(La0.97Yb0.02RE0.01)(2)Nb2O12 (RE = Ho, Er, Tm) new phosphors were successfully synthesized via solid reaction at 900 degrees C for 5 hours, whose course of phase evolution, macroscopic/local crystal structure and up-/down-conversion (UC/DC) photoluminescence were clarified. Mechanistic study and materials characterization were attained via XRD, Rietveld refinement, DTA/TG, electron microscopy (FE-SEM/TEM), and Raman/reflectance/fluorescence spectroscopies. The phosphors were shown to exhibit UC luminescence dominated by a similar to 553 nm green band (F-5(4)/S-5(2) -> I-5(8) transition) for Ho3+, a similar to 568 nm green band (S-4(3/2) -> I-4(15/2) transition) for Er3+ and a similar to 806 nm near-infrared band (H-3(4) -> H-3(6) transition) for Tm3+ under 978 nm laser excitation, with CIE chromaticity coordinates of around (0.31, 0.68), (0.38, 0.60) and (0.17, 0.24), respectively. Analysis of the pump-power dependence of UC intensity indicated that all the emissions involve a two-photon mechanism except for the similar to 486 nm blue emission of Tm3+ ((1)G(4) -> H-3(6)), which requires a three-photon process. The DC luminescence of these phosphors is featured by dominant bands at similar to 553 nm for Ho3+ (green, F-5(4)/S-5(2) -> I-5(8) transition), similar to 568 nm for Er3+ (green, S-4(3/2) -> I-4(15/2) transition) and similar to 464 nm for Tm3+ (blue, D-1(2) -> F-3(4) transition). The UC and DC properties were also comparatively discussed.