A new method of film structure " in situ' monitoring is proposed for MBE (molecular beam epitaxy) and MOCVD technologies. It is based on the analysis of second harmonic (SH) radiation induced in a growing film irradiated by a laser beam. SH intensity measurement versus angle of polarization plane of the incident light and versus film thickness provides the " i.n situ* information about film crystal quality, presence of polycrystal component and crystallographic axes orientation. This method can be complementary to the well-known technique of fast electron diffraction (RHEED) and is supposed to be especially suitable for research groups since it allows a correlation between techological and crystallographic parameters to be quickly determined.