In this research, the absorbance and luminescence response of two osmium(II) phenathrane (phen) carbonyl complexes to various DNA, heparin and i-carrageenan polyanions were studied. The [Os(phen) 2 CO(L)] 2+ complexes with L either a 4-phenyl pyridine (4-phpy) or phenyl imidazole (phimd) group exhibit moderate luminescent intensity in the visible region, their intensities are highly altered by the addition of DNA and other polyanion samples. These luminescent responses to polyanions were also compared with the [Ru(phen) 3 ] 2+ complex. In ethanol solution, the presence of polyanions significantly enhanced the luminescent emission intensity of [Os(phen) 2 CO(L)] 2+ complexes with a blue shift. While the polyanions all showed emission enhancement on the highly luminescent [Ru(phen) 3 ] 2+ complex in ethanol solution with a red spectra shift. The [Os(phen) 2 CO(L)] 2+ with (phimd) ligand has the lowest emission in ethanol solution, its intensity can be enhanced up to 11 times in the presence of DNA polyanions. This enhancement for all the complexes in ethanol is mainly due to their electrostatic interaction with the anion sites and with some degree of ligand intercalation into the polyanion hydrophobic structure which reduced the solvent quenching of the complexes. The blue shift of the (4-phpy) and particularly (phimd) Os(II)CO complexes indicate an insertion of the (4-phpy) or (phimd) group into the polymer chains. The two new Os(II)CO complexes has great potential to be used as luminescence sensors for DNA and polyanion detection in the low micro molar range with high sensitivity.