Bismuth borosilicate glasses doped with 0.5 mol% of CeO2 and increasing concentration of TeO2 (0–40 mol%) are synthesized by melt quench method with 12500C melting temperature, then coded as BiTe glasses. Theoretical values of parameters related gamma radiation shielding such as linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) and mean free path (MFP) are determined from Phy-X/PSD software in the radiation energy range of 0.015–15 MeV. We have achieved greater density value of around 5 gcm−3 and highest set of LAC values 314–0.2 cm−1 for BiTe-40 glass along with lowest range 0.002–3.8 cm of HVL thickness. On gamma irradiation, there was a notable enhancement in thermoluminescence (TL) intensity for TeO2 content greater than 30 mol% due to increase in density of trap centres. CeO2 incorporation has also contributed to increasing density of trap centres. The kinetic parameters were evaluated with the help of glow curve deconvolution technique from which the calculated activation energy was highest (1.652 eV) for BiTe-40 glass with longer lifetime (6.34 $\times$