Re3+, Yb3+ co-doped (Re0.005YbxY(0.995-x))3Al5O12 [Re = Ce, Er, x = 0, 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.2] transparent ceramics are synthesized by the solid state reaction and vacuum sintering as the down-conversion (DC) materials. The photoluminescence excitation and the photoluminescence spectra demonstrate the near-infrared quantum cutting (QC) and the energy transfer (ET) from Re3+ to Yb3+ in both of these series of samples. The comparison of the near-infrared QC spectra of the two series of samples shows that the Ce3+, Yb3+ co-doped Y3Al5O12 transparent ceramic samples have much higher intensity of the emission spectra in the near-infrared region, and higher ET efficiency than the Er3+, Yb3+ co-doped ones. So, the Ce3+, Yb3+ DC ion pair is a better choice to improve the efficiency of the crystalline silicon-based solar cells.