The objective of this paperis to report a non toxic, potential green synthetic method for preparing cerium oxide nanoparticles from ammonium ceric sulphate using Emblica officinalis fruit extract as a stabilizing agent. Synthesised nano CeO2 were characterized using UV-Vis and PL spectroscopic techniques, XRD and SEM. Both the undoped and Ti doped CeO2 nanoparticles absorb at 253 nm and emit at a wavelength of 352 and 350 nm respectively .The spherical shaped undoped and doped nanoparticles were found to be 23.82 and 24.82 nm in size respectively using Debye-Scherrer’s Formula.Photocatalytic degradation of Safranin dye under UV-irradiation was also investigated. Undoped and Ti ion doped cerium oxide nanoparticles possess photocatalytic activity while the latter shows enhanced degradation efficiency percentage and can be used as effective photocatalyst.