A semiconductor light-emitting device comprises a light-emitting layer including a pn junction formed by a plurality of In.sub.x Ga.sub.y Al.sub.1-x-y P (0.ltoreq.x, y.ltoreq.1) layers, and a light-emitting-layer holding layer consisting of an indirect transition type Ga.sub.1-w Al.sub.w As (0.ltoreq.w.ltoreq.1) provided on an opposite side to a light-outputting side. The holding layer has a sufficiently small light absorption coefficient for the light from the light-emitting layer although its band gap is small and improves the light emission efficiency of the semiconductor light-emitting device.