AlN and GaN films were co-implanted with europium and praseodymium ions followed by thermal annealing treatments for the lattice recovery and ions activation. Their structural and optical properties were studied by Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry and optical spectroscopy techniques. The evolution of the ions photoluminescence intensity with temperature was analyzed for both AIN:Eu,Pr and GaN:Eu,Pr hosts, and compared with the ones of individually doped layers (GaN:Eu, GaN:Pr, AIN:Eu and AIN:Pr). Sharp emission lines due to intra-4f(n) shell transitions can be observed even at room temperature for the Eu3+ and Pr3+ for both hosts. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.