Sol-gel processing is well-known to be a powerful technique for designing materials for optical applications. Here, some recent applications of functionalized sol-gel coatings in optics are briefly reviewed. Lanthanide-doped oxide nanocrystals form a new promising class of nanophosphors allowing the easy sol-gel preparation of transparent and luminescent films for the development of light-emitting devices. Recent experiments on organized mesoporous films show their potential applications in optics, such as stable low-index layers in interferential antireflective devices or as silica binders in TiO 2-photocatalytic devices.