•Novel kinds of lanthanide complexes are assembled with zeolite L.•Wide excitation covering ultraviolet and visible region.•Luminescence color integration.Several kinds of host–guest hybrid materials have been synthesized employing a ship in a bottle method by loading 9-hydroxy-2-methylphenalenone (MHPO) or 9-hydroxyphenalen (HPNP) from gas phase into the nanochannels of Ln3+-exchanged zeolite L (ZL) crystals (Ln = Gd or Eu). The resulting hybrids without lanthanide ions, MHPO–ZL, HPNP–ZL and the hybrids with lanthanide ions Ln–MHPO–ZL and Ln–HPNP–ZL are characterized with FT-IR, UV–vis DRS and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The photoluminescence properties of these hybrid materials have been analyzed and discussed, exhibiting the luminescence of Eu3+ and ligands under the excitation at ultraviolet–visible region. These results provide useful data and can be expected to have potential application in the practical fields.Graphical abstractHost–guest hybrids are assembled with a ship in a bottle method by loading 9-hydroxy-2-methylphenalenone (MHPO) or 9-hydroxyphenalen (HPNP) from gas phase into the nanochannels of Ln3+-exchanged zeolite L crystals.