Humans first theoretically explained the phenomenon of fluorescence in 1852, when Stokes proposed a theory later known as Stokes' law. In 1921, Lagorio observed that the visible fluorescence energy emitted by fluorescent dyes was lower than the visible light energy it absorbed. For this reason, he inferred that fluorescent dyes have the ability to Pretvori nevidno ultravijolično svetlobo v vidno fluorescenco . Ugotovil je tudi, da je mogoče belosti naravnih vlaken izboljšati tako, da jih obdelamo z vodnimi raztopinami fluorescentnih snovi . leta 1929 je Krais uporabil načelo lagorio, da bi dokazal, da je bil rumenkast rayon v rumenkasto 6, 7- dihidroxycoumarin glikozidi in po sušenju je bilo ugotovljeno, da je bila belina rajona bistveno izboljšana .
Hiter razvoj fluorescentnih belilnih sredstev je privedel do tega, da so ga nekateri našteli kot enega od treh glavnih dosežkov industrije barvil v poznem 20. stoletju, skupaj s pojavom reaktivnih barvil in organskih pigmentov dpp .
Številne panoge so začele uporabljati fluorescentna belilna sredstva, kot so papir, plastika, usnje in detergente . hkrati pa se fluorescentna posvetlitve uporabljajo tudi na številnih visokotehnoloških poljih, kot so: fluorescence za barvanje, ki se pojavljajo na tiskanju itd. Povečajte občutljivost fotosenzibilnega lateksa, uporabite tudi fluorescentne svetilke .
In China, fluorescent brighteners were first classified as printing and dyeing auxiliary products, and then classified as dye products. Due to its unique properties and large demand for dosage, it has been separated from the above two industries and become a separate category of fine chemical products. The largest user of fluorescent brighteners in China is detergent, the second largest user is paper, and Tekstil je tretji največji uporabnik .