Luminescence occurs in some minerals when they are exposed to low-powered sources of ultraviolet or infrared electromagnetic radiation (for example, portable UV lamps), at atmospheric pressure and atmospheric temperatures. This property of these minerals can be used during the process of mineral identification at rock outcrops in the field.

This category should not include chemical compounds, studied in solid-state physics, that display luminescence only at very high radiation power, very high pressure or very high temperature.