Disclosed is a process for fabricating luminescent porous material, the process comprising pre-treating a substrate (e.g. crystalline silicon) with laser radiation (e.g from a Nd:YAG laser) in a predetermined pattern followed by exposing the irradiated substrate to a chemical stain etchant (e.g. HF:HNO3:H2O) to produce a luminescent nanoporous material. Luminescent porous material having a luminescence maximum greater than about 2100 meV may be produced by this method. Such nanoporous materials are useful in optoelectronic and other semiconductor devices.