The effective detection of fingerprints is currently crucial for criminal investigations. Fluorescent organic compounds are frequently used to reveal fingerprints, although they are ineffective at finding fingerprints on porous or reflective surfaces. Inorganic phosphors have been used to address the issue of collecting fingerprints on porous/reflective surfaces because they exhibit characteristics such as variable colour emission, afterglow, high chemical stability, and nanosize, which enable the detection of fingerprints on any porous or non-porous surfaces. This review provides a description of how phosphorescent is used as a result of these last two characteristics. The primary physical and chemical aspects of fingerprints that allow for their detection and collecting from any surface were first covered, as well as fluorescent phosphors' use in the detection of latent fingerprints. The main morphological, structural, and luminescent characteristics of fluorescent and phosphorescent phosphors that permit their application for fingerprint detection were then presented. Later, we showed that both fluorescent and phosphorescent phosphors can be used to visualise fingerprints with high resolution and high contrast without interference from the background surface, which is ideal for their collection and registration in the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, using photographs of fingerprints (with and without light emission from the phosphors deposited on them) (AFIS). Depending on the type of surface (porous or non-porous, reflecting or not reflective), where the fingerprint is deposited, we think that this review may be helpful in understanding how to choose an appropriate phosphorescent or fluorescent material for fingerprint detection
