The effects of Mn ²⁺ doping on the structural, optical and magnetic properties of the corundum-related oxide Zn₃TeO₆ were investigated. Polycrystalline ceramic samples of the solid solution Zn_3-xMn_xTeO₆ (0<x≤2.0) were prepared by a solid-state reaction route. Phase diagram as a function of Mn concentration indicates monoclinic (C2/c) structure for x<1.0, disproportionated mixing of both monoclinic (C2/c) and rhombohedral (R-3) structure for 1.0≤x≤1.6, and R-3 structure for x≥1.8. Moreover, when x=2.0, ZnMn₂TeO₆ was formed, in which the bond length of Te-O and Mn/Zn-O increased, and the Mn/ZnO₆ octahedra became more distorted. Rietveld refinements of the crystal structures from the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data showed that the Zn/MnO₆ octahedra were highly distorted in R-3 phase. With the increase of Mn ²⁺ doping content, the solid solution Zn_3-xMn_xTeO₆ demonstrated not only the structure change from C2/c to R-3, but also the color evolution from light yellow to dark yellow. In optical absorption spectroscopy, with the increase of Mn ²⁺ doping concentration, the absorption at 400-550 nm was enhanced, and the optical band gap of the samples gradually decreased from 3.25 eV (x=0.1) to 2.08 eV (x=2.0). Analysis revealed that the color of samples changed from light yellow to dark yellow is due to the d-d transition of Mn ²⁺ ions in Zn/MnO₆ octahedron. Magnetic measurements indicate that the antiferromagnetic transition temperature of the solid solution gradually increased with the increase of the doping amount of Mn ²⁺, and the doped Mn ²⁺ ions exist in a high spin state.