In the conditions of limited resources and increased demand for electricity the problems of energy saving becomes extremely important. Scientists around the world are working on the invention of new, more efficient and technologically advanced light sources, modernize the existing ones, trying to achieve the best performance possible. In the last decade we have observed increased popularity, rapid growth of production and utilization of LED lamps based devices. The article provides detailed description of lighting engineering development and key stages of light sources creation, along with light sources classification. LED lamps are proven to be the most efficient and cost effective of all lapms currently used for lighting based on the comparative analysis of four key performance indicators: service life, luminous efficiency, efficiency, color rendition index. The analysis of the lighting engineering market, leading producers of LED goods in Russia and abroad is carried out, growth rates of the LED production market in Russia and in the world are given, development prospects for LED market, and lighting engineering market as a whole are defined.