Two kinds of triphenylamine-derived solid-state emissive carbon dots (CDs) with orange and yellow color are facilely synthesized through solvothermal treatment, taking advantage of the nonplanar structure and good carrier mobility of triphenylamine unit. Theoretical calculations show that the triphenylamine structure could greatly inhibit the direct π–π stacking of aromatic skeletons and enhance the fluorescence properties of CDs in aggregation state. By adopting the CDs as single emissive layer, high-performance orange-color and green-color electroluminescent light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are successfully fabricated, with maximum brightness of 9450/4236 cd m, high current efficiency of 1.57/2.34 cd A and low turn-on voltage of 3.1/3.6 eV are respectively achieved. Significantly, white-color LED device is further prepared. This work provides a universal platform for the construction of novel solid-state emissive CDs with significant applications in photoelectric device.