Different cations doped lead-free piezoelectric (Bi1/2Na1/2)TiO3 ceramics with the general formula Na0.4995Bi0.4995Ba0.001Ti0.998M0.002O3 (M = Nb, Ta, and Sb) were fabricated. The effects of processing parameters and doping on phase content, microstructure, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the materials were discussed. Experimental results show that Nb doped (Bi1/2Na1/2)TiO3 exhibits superior polarization performance over the existing lead-free ceramics with a d(33) value of 122 pC/N obtained when poled at 60 kV/cm at room temperature. The best piezoelectric properties were achieved in (Bi1/2Na1/2)TiO3 doped with Ta having a measured d(33) value of 164 pC/N for samples poled at 100 degrees C under the applied field of 50 kV/cm.