The need for new, chemically and physically stable luminescent materials operating with UV excitations has stimulated research on luminescence properties of doped sol–gel material. In this work, it has been presented a technology of production of silica gels doped with organic molecules, lanthanide compounds and organic/inorganic composites. Optical properties of these materials as functions of temperature, concentration and excitation wavelength are presented. Dynamics of excited states has been discussed based on the decay times and emission efficiencies data. Mechanisms of ligand-to-metal energy transfer as well as other processes affecting emission efficiency are considered. Silica sol–gels doped with di-aminoacid derivatives of porphyrins: PP(Ser)2(Arg)2, PP(Ala)2(Arg)2, PP(Met)2(Arg)2, where Met, Arg and Ser denote methionine, serine and arginine aminoacids, respectively, and H2TTMePP {tetrakis[4-(trimethylammonio)phenyl]-21H,23H-porphine} have been obtained and spectroscopically studied. These materials can find applications as phosphors or sensors of UV irradiation.