This review is devoted to critical analysis of the latest results in two new branches of study: photodesorption of resonant absorbing particles from a surface of transparent dielectrics and photodetachment of intrinsic atoms of a metal. We have investigated the former, taking as a sample under examination an Na atom absorbed on the surface of monocrystalline sapphire. As to photo processes that take place on the surface of a metal, their existence was assumed to be bound up with short wavelength radiation or electronic impact induced vacancies having long enough lifetimes in the inner shells of the near surface atom. As shown, this process is due to the existence of intrinsic structural defects of a metallic surface. The electronic states of such defects are more localized and possess long lifetimes of excited states and it is this fact which causes an efficiency of photodetachment event of an atom from a surface. The review shows the main properties of this phenomenon and discusses its concrete mechanisms.