The rare earth halide single crystal of RbY2Cl7∶Ce was successfully grown in quartz ampoules by Bridgman method. The crystal of RbY2Cl7∶Ce crystallizes in orthorhombic structure and the cell parameters were determined to be: a=1.274 69 nm, b=0.693 02 nm, c=1.266 55 nm. The melting point is 617 ℃. X-ray induced photoluminescence spectra, emission spectra, the multichannel energy spectrum and decay curve of γ-ray was characterized. The photoluminescence spectra of RbY2Cl7∶Ce show emission band centered at about 389 nm and excitation band centered at about 336 nm. The energy resolution of the resulting γ-ray peak is ~9.8% under γ-ray excitation of 137Cs source, and the scintillation decay time is about 35 ns.