The wide substitution of conventional types of energy by solar energy lies in the rate of developing solar cell technology. Silicon is still the mostly used element for solar cell production, so efforts are directed to the improvement of physical properties of silicon structures. There are several trends in the development of solar cells, but mainly two directions are indicated: the improvement of the conventional solar cell characteristics based on semiconductor materials, and exploring the possibilities of using some new materials. The aim of this paper is to present some different approaches of improvement of solar cell properties through the investigation of radiation effects on the main solar cell characteristics.