Abstract The luminescence and energy migration in Sr1−xEuxB4O7 have been studied. At 4.2 K line emission is observed due to the 4f 7 ( 6 P 7 2 ) → 4f 7 ( 8 S 7 2 ) transition on Eu2+. At higher temperatures the 4f65d level is thermally populated and the 4f 6 5d → 4f 7 ( 8 S 7 2 ) broad band emission appears. At temperatures below 20 K energy migration occurs in EuB4O7 over the 6 P 7 2 level of the Eu2+ ion. The decay curves of the Eu2+ emission in EuB4O7 were analyzed using a random-walk model for two-dimensional energy migration. From the analysis a value of 107 s-1 for the transfer probability of the excitation energy between nearest Eu2+ neighbours was derived. The temperature dependence of the energy migration process was studied, and explained by phonon assistance for temperatures below 20 K and by the change from two-dimensional energy migration over the 6 P 7 2 level of Eu2+ to three-dimensional energy migration over the 4f65d level of Eu2+ above 20 K. The two-dimensional migration is exchange-mediated, the three-dimensional migration is due to dipole-dipole interaction.