We report here about the effect of rare-earth dopants on the improvement of room-temperature mechanical properties of alumina. Rare-earth ions (RE = Yb3+, Er3+, and La3+) of different ionic radii in a minimum concentration of 1000 ppm were added as dopants individually to high-purity alumina and densified by pressureless sintering. High strength of about 700 MPa was attained for Yb-doped alumina sintered at 1400degreesC. And, high toughness of about 7.0 MPa.m(1/2) was attained for Er- and La-doped alumina samples.