Acoustics 08 Paris 1475Brief review of modern spectral techniques and instruments based on acousto-optical tunable filters (AOTF) is presented. New approaches for spectrometers and spectral systems development are considered. There are presented and described a series of compact spectrometers and spectrophotometers of ultra-violet, visible, and infra-red ranges for Raman, fluorescence, and absorption spectroscopy for various applications, including out-ofdoor measurements, spectroradiometers for environment monitoring (open air, Earth surface, and depth seawater), specialised spectral equipment for industrial monitoring (microelectronics, alcoholometry), imaging spectral devices, and instruments for differential spectroscopy. Also some fundamental problems of AOTF-based spectroscopy are considered: spectrogram correction of instrument function distortions, spectral resolution of different methods, modulation techniques for instrument function synthesizing, optimization of measurement procedures, including adaptive algorithms. Basic trends of past 30 year's AOTF-based spectroscopy development are formulated. The most promising ideas are discussed.