Light is a key environmental factor that synchronizes all life-stages of fish, from embryo development to sexual maturation. The underwater photo-environment is complex since light characteristics (i.e. intensity, photoperiod and spectrum) depend on the absorbance properties of the water column. The aim of this paper is to review the effects of artificial lighting conditions on the performance, development and welfare of some fish larvae of commercial interest. Reviewed results show that larvae were significantly affected by light characteristics. For example, European sea bass and sole larvae achieved the best performance, and showed fastest development and lowest degree of deformity under a light/dark cycle using blue light (half-peak bandwidth = 435–500 nm), conditions which were the closest to their natural aquatic environment. However, constant light (LL) or constant darkness (DD) was shown to negatively affect normal larval development and resulted in increased malformations and poor survival in most of the studied species. Similar results have been observed in other fish larvae such as Atlantic cod, which performed better under short wavelengths (blue and green). These findings highlight the role of lighting conditions during the early development of fish larvae and should be taken into account for the optimization of rearing protocols in fish hatcheries as juvenile supply is one of the main production bottlenecks.