We have investigated the structure, transport and magnetic properties of the ternary compounds RE2Cu0.8Ge3 (RE = Rare earth ions) and R2CuAl3 (R = Nd, Sm, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho and Er) by means of the X-ray diffraction, electrical resistivity ρ(T), dc magnetic susceptibility (T) measurements. The RE2Cu0.8Ge3 (RE = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Sm) compounds are found to crystallize tetragonalα-ThSi2 structure with space group I41/amd as confirmed from the X-ray diffraction measurements. The refined lattice parameters follows lanthanide contraction, it varies from a = 4.274, c = 14.486 A (La) to a = 4.130, c = 14.203 A (Sm). Whereas RE = Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, and Er shows a superstructure ofα-ThSi2. It appears that the copper network in RE2Cu0.8Ge3 compounds show some vacancies. The magnetization measurements indicate that RE2Cu0.8Ge3 have spin-glass behavior, due to nonmagnetic-atom-disorder and vacancies except for RE = La. Magnetic ordering are observed in RE2Cu0.8Ge3 as revealed from theρ(T) and (T) curves. The Neel temperatures for compounds scale with the de Gennes factor which suggests that the primary mechanism of interactions leading to the ordering of the magnetic moments may be the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yoshida (RKKY) interaction. For R2CuAl3 compounds, they crystallized in MgCu2-type cubic structure (space group Fd-3m). The refined lattice parameters are found to decrease monotonically from 7.897 (Nd) to 7.716 A (Er). Magnetic ordering are observed in R2CuAl3 as revealed from theρ(T) and (T) curves.