Ce-doped MgAl2O4 transparent ceramics were fabricated by the spark plasma sintering method. The 0.01% Ce-doped MgAl2O4 exhibited PL peaking at 410 nm upon the excitation of 310 nm. On the other hand, the 0.1, 0.5, and 1% Ce-doped MgAl2O4 showed different PL excitation peaks. The PL peaking at 410 nm was attributed to 5d-4f transitions of Ce3+ ions with a decay time of a few nanoseconds. TSL glow curves were mainly composed of three glow peaks. When Ce-doped MgAl2O4 was heated at 300 °C, three TSL emission peaks were observed at around 410, 520, and 700 nm in TSL spectra, originating from Ce3+ ions, Mn2+ impurities, and Mg2+ vacancies, respectively. The normalized TSL intensity declined to 95% for the first 24 h and did not change in 1–5 days within the measurement error. The minimum detectable dose of the 0.5% Ce-doped MgAl2O4 was 0.5 μGy.