In the review, based on the analysis of the results published in the works of domestic and foreign researchers, a variant of an unconventional interpretation of the photoluminescence of dispersive media in the energy range of 0.5 - 3 eV is proposed. The interpretation meets the requirements of the energy conservation law for photons and axions participating in the photoluminescence process. The participation of axions in the process is consistent with Primakov's hypothesis. The role of nonradiative relaxation at the stage of axion decay is noted. The axion lifetimes are estimated for a number of dispersive media.