The uses of phosphate based luminescent materials are presented in this study in different fields of luminescence. There are different types of luminescent phosphors are available in the field of luminescence such as borates, sulphates, fluorides, sulphides, phosphates etc. From all these phosphors, phosphate-based phosphors shows their potential in almost every field of luminescence in last few years and it becomes a key material in the luminescence especially in photoluminescence, thermoluminescence and mechanoluminescence. These rare earths activated phosphate-based luminescence materials are synthesized with different techniques by means of wet chemical method, combustion technique, sol gel analysis and solid-state diffusion technique etc. which are described in the present article. Consequently, this article chiefly dealing the overview of different phosphate based luminescent materials and modern development and progression in the field of luminescence.