In order for Si-based materials to be used in solid-state lighting (SSL) schemes it is necessary to have precise control of the emission from these materials. This can be accomplished through the use of rare earth dopants such as Ce, Tb, and Eu to obtain blue, green, and red emissions, respectively. This talk will focus on the luminescence of various silicon-based nanostructures (such as silicon oxides, nitrides, and carbides) and the effect of rare earth doping of such systems. We have demonstrated very high, optically active concentrations of the rare earths by using in-situ doping processes, using electron cyclotron resonance chemical vapour deposition (ECR-CVD) or inductively coupled plasma (ICP) CVD as low thermal budget processes for film deposition. I will describe the salient features of the deposition systems and correlate important process parameters with the observed luminescence. Finally, I will discuss some of the challenges in developing electrically driven lighting cells suitable for SSL and in particular, the development of white light emitters from rare earth doped Si-based materials.