Different phosphors emit different wavelengths of light depending upon the doped impurity ions. They have various applications in the technological fields. Therefore, the majority of research is accelerated in terms of energy saving and eco-friendly devices. The enormous and countless research in the aluminate materials have shape up the new era of solid state lighting in terms of illumination, small size, energy saving, long lasting eco-friendly phosphors, etc. Aluminates are the low cost and easily available materials and have the potential to fulfill almost all the properties that are required for illumination. The scientists have accelerated progressively more economical techniques, which are useful for technological advancement as well as mass production of the materials. This article highlights the recent development in aluminate materials in terms of their synthesis process, investigation in crystal structure, crystal field splitting and effect of energy band gap along with luminescence properties and lifetime measurements. Some of the earlier investigations showed the limitations and recent critically challenged investigations have also been discussed in this article. This article also includes various applications of these aluminate materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]