A reliable detector model is needed for Monte Carlo efficiency calibration. A LaBr3(Ce) detector model was optimized and verified using different radioactive sources (241Am, 133Ba, 137Cs, 60Co and 152Eu) and geometries (point, extended and surface). PENELOPE and MCNP were used for Monte Carlo simulations. A good agreement was observed between simulated and experimental full energy peak efficiencies (FEPE) as their mean relative difference was 2.84% ± 1.93% and 2.79% ± 1.99% for PENELOPE and MCNP simulation, respectively. The differences between simulated FEPEs of two Monte Carlo codes were negligible except for low energies (