This paper analyzes some advantages of Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) based photodetectors for bioluminescence imaging. It shows that SOI based sensors not only solve the bulk carriers problem, it can also act as a very selective spectral filter by acting as a resonant cavity, which is useful in application with a very narrow spectrum of interest, such as bioluminescence imaging. Then, the authors discuss the application of those findings and the electrical advantages of SOI for a new kind of switching photodetector, the Hybrid MOS-PN device and their advantages in terms of dark current minimization.