Optical imaging emerges as a vital component of the various techniques needed to meet the stringent requirements of modern bioanalysis and bioimaging. Lanthanide luminescent bioprobes (LLBs) have greatly contributed to this field during the past 35 years because they have definite advantages such as little or no photobleaching and, thanks to time-gated detection, high sensitivity. The review summarizes the numerous tools offered by LLBs under their various forms, coordination compounds, nanoparticles, upconverting nanoparticles and their bioconjugates. It then focuses on biosensing, including point-of-care analysis, and then on both in vitro and in vivo bioimaging with visible and NIR light. The last section compares the performances of LLBs versus those of other commonly used bioprobes (organic dyes, quantum dots, and transition metal complexes). It is concluded that although LLBs will not replace all of existing bioprobes, they add invaluable new specific technologies to the biologist and medical doctor toolboxes. A good deal of improvements are achieved through nanotechnologies, which demonstrates that progresses in biosciences depend on the intersection of different disciplines, photophysics, chemistry, biochemistry, nanotechnology, and materials science. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.