Microstructure and up-conversion luminescence properties of Er
3+ and Yb
3+ co-doped PbF
2–ZnF
2–SiO
2 oxyfluoride silicate were investigated. Up-conversion luminescence spectra consist of four bands centered at 408, 523, 541 and 660 nm which are similar to other Yb
3+ and Er
3+ co-doped up-conversion materials, but the violet emission near 408 nm accounting to 16.8%in overall intensity is much stronger than others. Another feature is that the change of the ratio of the intensity of the green to red emission is not monotonously. These phenomenon can be explained by micro dendrite crystal appeared in the as cast sample with 0.1 mol%Er
3+. The dendrite crystal is identified to be β-PbF
2 by X-ray diffraction in which the content of rare-earth ions, Yb
3+ and Er
3+, is determined to be
7.0 mol%. The violet emission near 408 nm of the sample with the concentration of 0.1 mol%Er
3+ decreased to 1.6%after the heat treatment because of the diminish of the dendrite.