We present time-resolved reflectivity, photoluminescence, dark conductivity and morphology studies of light-emitting Si prepared by pulsed XeCl laser irradiation of amorphous hydrogenated silicon (a-Si:H) deposited on a silica substrate by glow discharge deposition. Laser-induced melting and recrystallization of the a-Si:H layers lead to visible room temperature photoluminescence, accompanied by an increase in dark conductivity by more than three orders of magnitude. We investigate the influence of the number of applied laser pulses on the properties of the processed layers.