With the progress of nuclear radiation technology in China, radiation detection has been developed rapidly in recent years for the wide usage in radiation safety monitoring, radioactive medicine diagnosis/treatment, X-ray security inspection, industrial non-destructive detection, microscopic particle track detection, and many other fields. Radio-photoluminescence (RPL), as a new radiation detection method, is a phenomenon in which a new luminescence center is generated inside a material under a ionizing radiation which can be excited by ultraviolet light to emit a special light. RPL materials usually have characteristics of storing radiation information, almost no attenuation of information, good linear dose response, high radiation sensitivity, low energy dependence, and repeatable reading, which can overcome the shortcomings in stability and reusability of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) materials and thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) materials. Since the RPL phenomenon was reported, RPL materials have emerged constantly, from the traditional materials as Ag-doped phosphate glass, Al₂O₃:C, Mg and LiF, to the novel materials such as Cu-doped RPL system, Sm-doped RPL system and undoped RPL system materials. Meanwhile, applications of RPL materials have also been explored, enabling them to become one of the indispensable materials in the field of radiation detection. Based on above aspects, this paper summarizes the latest development of RPL materials, focuses on the luminescence principle, performance characteristics and applications of traditional and novel RPL materials, and especially compares the performance of different RPL materials in radiation detection. Finally, advantages and disadvantages, accompanied by prospected development trend of RPL materials are summarized and analyzed