Luminescent films have attracted a great amount of attention due to their unique properties and various potential applications in optical displays, sensors and switches. Due to the fast development of stimuliresponsive luminescent films, we believe it is timely to introduce recent advances and to promote the trends in this field. In this review, firstly, we describe several effective ways to synthesize stimuliresponsive luminescent films. The attention is then focused on the development of several important fluorescence switching systems, which are sensitive to external stimuli (such as typical physical and chemical environments). Finally, the future trends and perspectives are also briefly discussed.