Magnesium sulphide (MgS) belongs to the class of alkaline earth sulphides. It has been found to be an excellent host material to obtain phosphors which can be used in radiation dosimetry as optically stimulated luminescence and thermoluminescence dosimeters, in radiography as infrared sensors, etc. With a view to understanding its various uses, fundamental studies such as emission, absorption and excitation spectra, decay of luminescence, thermoluminescence, etc., have been carried out by various workers. However, no effort has been made to review these studies scattered throughout the literature; an attempt has been made to fill that gap in this paper.